(Agencies)
Updated: 2007-12-03 17:03

Khartoum - Two leading British Muslims meet with Sudan's president on Monday in an attempt to secure the early release of a British teacher jailed for allowing her students to name a teddy bear Mohammad.

British Muslim politician Lord Ahmed, a member of Britain's upper house of parliament, briefs the media in Khartoum, December 1, 2007. Lord Ahmed said on Saturday he had not given up hope of an early release for British teacher Gillian Gibbons, who was jailed in Sudan for allowing her class to name a teddy Bear Mohammad. [Agencies]

Gillian Gibbons was sentenced on Thursday to 15 days in jail for insulting Islam to be followed by deportation.

Britain's ambassador to Sudan, Rosalind Marsden, said she was optimistic the meeting with President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, expected to take place at 10:30 am (0730 GMT), could lead to the early release of Gibbons.

"We very much hope that following the meeting with the president tomorrow morning the decision will be taken to release Mrs. Gibbons as soon as possible," Marsden told reporters late on Sunday night.

"I'm not 100 percent confident but I'm certainly more optimistic than I was now that we know that the peers have been given the opportunity of a meeting with President Bashir tomorrow," she said.

Marsden said the private initiative by Lord Ahmed and Baroness Sayeeda Warsi offered the best hope for Gibbons' early release. The peers delayed their departure after Bashir confirmed a last-minute meeting following a two-day wait.

Gibbons let her pupils at Khartoum's private Unity High School pick their favorite name for a teddy bear as part of a project on animals in September. Twenty out of 23 of them chose Mohammad - a popular boy's name in Sudan, as well as the name of Islam's Prophet.

Marsden described the incident which has spurred huge international interest and worsened Britain's relations with Sudan, as a "cultural misunderstanding."

Sudan's influential Council of Muslim Scholars on Sunday warned the government not to pardon Gibbons, saying that would damage Khartoum's reputation with Muslims around the world.

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