And she notes with embarrassment that she celebrated her release by drinking an alcoholic drink in the presence of Muslims. It seems she has learned her lesson well: do not offend your overlords. And if they take offense at something you have done, it is your fault — no matter how far-fetched and absurd the offense may be.
From IOL.co.za (thanks to Twostellas):
London – A British teacher who was jailed in Sudan for naming a teddy bear Mohamed said in an interview published on Sunday she blames herself for what she went through.
Gillian Gibbons was convicted of insulting Islam after she allowed her six-year-old pupils to name the class teddy bear “Mohamed” – a violation under Sudan’s Islamic sharia law.
While Gibbons expressed incomprehension at how anyone could interpret her actions as intentionally insulting, she told the newspaper she blamed herself for the incident.
“I shouldn’t have done it,” the newspaper quoted her as saying. “Ignorance of the law is no defence.”
[…]
Gibbons also described moments of absurdity during the trial – including an incident in which the teddy bear was produced as evidence by a prosecutor – and how she toasted her release with a vodka and orange in her first-class cabin on her way back home.
“I’m not a drinker, but I felt obliged to have an alcoholic drink, even though I was with Lord Ahmed and Baroness Warsi, who are Muslims,” she said.
“I was a bit embarrassed about it, but I thought I deserved that vodka.”