 THE Bishop of Liverpool today called on the Sudanese government to free teacher Gillian Gibbons. In a joint statement with Muslim leader Akbar Ali, Bishop James Jones appealed for compassion. They said: “We, as Christian and Muslim leaders in the city of Liverpool, appeal to the Sudanese government to show compassion in the name of God the most merciful and release Gillian Gibbons.” His plea came as Foreign Office officials resumed discussions to try and free the 54-year-old teacher. The Liverpool woman faces 40 lashes after being arrested for insulting the Prophet Muhammad while working in Sudan. In September the Aigburth mother-of-two allowed her class of six and seven-year-olds at Unity high school, in the capital Khartoum, to pick a name for a class teddy bear. They chose Muhammad – after one of their classmates – allegedly prompting some parents to complain to the authorities.. Mrs Gibbons, known by her friends as Gill, was locked up by Sudanese police on Sunday and remained in custody this morning. The former deputy headteacher at Dovecot primary school, who left for Sudan in July, could face a public flogging, jail or a fine. Embassy officials visited her on Monday and found her in good health but shaken. Today Mrs Gibbons’s MP Louise Ellman today said she hoped for a “speedy” end to the situation after making representations to the Minister for Africa, Lord Mark Malloch-Brown. She said: “They are hoping to get a resolution and I will be contacting them again today. “I do not know what will happen. But I know everything possible is being done and I hope there will be a speedy resolution.” Fellow teachers in Sudan said Mrs Gibbons, who separated from her headteacher husband Peter after 32 years of marriage, made an innocent mistake and simply let her pupils choose their favourite name for the toy as part of a class project. One Muslim teacher at Unity, who also has a child in Mrs Gibbons’s class, said she did not find the project offensive. The school was founded in 1902 and teaches mainly Christian children the British National Curriculum. | 
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