Brit teacher in Sudan faces death threat for naming teddy 'Mohammed'

London, Dec 1 (UNI) Gillion Gibbons, the British teacher in Sudan who was convicted for allowing her pupils to name a teddy ''Mohammed'' is facing execution threats from Muslim demonstrators.

Carrying swords and machetes and waving green Islamic flags, protesters marched through the streets of Khartoum yesterday saying, ''No one lives who insults the prophet,'' More than 1,000 demonstrators in the Sudanese capital called for her to be shot or stabbed for insulting Islam after her pupils called a teddy bear Muhammad.

Some protesters arrived at Khartoum's central mosque on foot, waving knives, clubs and ceremonial swords. Others came on the back of pick-up trucks, covered in printed banners and flags.

Newspaper pictures of Gibbons were burned on a makeshift stage at the heart of Martyrs Square.

Gibbons was sentenced to 15 days in jail followed by deportation in a case that has attracted international condemnation.

Last night she was moved from the women's prison where she was being held to a secret location across the Nile for her own safety.

British Muslim groups criticised the Sudanese government, saying the verdict has harmed Islam's image.

Khalid al-Mubarak, spokesman for the Sudanese embassy in London, blamed the death threats on ''hotheads'' from hardline mosques and said the protests were not representative of society in Khartoum.

''After prayer, people in particular mosques, not the mainstream, were the ones shouting slogans to this effect,'' The Guardian quoted him as saying.

British officials still hope Gibbons will be released early.

''We are still in talks with the authorities and the possibility of early release remains,'' said a diplomat in Khartoum last night.

UNI