Pardon for Gillian Gibbons

All's well that ends well, right?

KHARTOUM, Sudan -- Sudan's president on Monday agreed to pardon a British teacher jailed after letting her students name a teddy bear Muhammad, and officials said she would be released and would fly back to England later in the day.

Lord Nazir Ahmed and another Muslim representative from Britain's House of Lords, Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, met with Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir Monday at his presidential palace to plead for Gillian Gibbons' pardon.

"The president has told us he has already signed the papers for her pardon," Ahmed told reporters afterward.

Sudanese presidential spokesman Mahzoub Faidul told The Associated Press that Gibbons would "be released today and will fly back to England today."

Gibbons had been sentenced Thursday to 15 days in prison and deportation for insulting Islam because her students gave the teddy bear the same name as Islam's revered prophet — a violation under Sudan's Islamic Sharia law.

The case inflamed passions among many in Sudan, where demonstrators called for her to be put to death.

In a written statement released by the presidential palace and read by Warsi to reporters, 54-year-old Gibbons said she was sorry if she caused any "distress."

"I have a great respect for the Islamic religion and would not knowingly offend anyone," Gibbons said in the statement. "I am looking forward to seeing my family and friends, but I am very sorry that I will be unable to return to Sudan."

I think it's stunning that Gibbons is apologizing for causing "distress."

THOUSANDS of protesters called for her head!

...Sudan's ambassador in London, Khalid al-Mubarak, said he was "overjoyed" by the news.

"She is a teacher who went to teach our children English and she has helped a great deal and I am very grateful," al-Mubarak said. "What has happened was a cultural misunderstanding, a minor one, and I hope she, her family and the British people won't be affected by what has happened."

Demonstrations in Khartoum on Friday, in which some participants called for Gibbons' execution, "were an argument from the fringe," al-Mubarak said.

WHAT?

I wouldn't call this teddy bear thing a "minor" cultural misunderstanding.

When THOUSANDS of Sudanese arm themselves with clubs and knives, take to the streets, and say, "No tolerance: Execution," and "Kill her, kill her by firing squad," that's sort of a big deal.

Last week, the protesters left their mosques -- THEIR MOSQUES -- after Friday sermons and demanded that she be executed.

These THOUSANDS of people that wanted Gibbons dead are from the fringe?

Based on the number of participants and the intensity of their protests, it seems like that fringe is awfully wide.

Thankfully, Gibbons is expected to return safely to England. But I don't think this episode should be excused or readily forgotten.

The fringe is a serious threat and can do a tremendous amount of damage. That's the reality.

It took only nineteen members of the so-called fringe to hijack four American civilian airliners, completely destroy the World Trade Center, damage the Pentagon, and slaughter nearly 3000 people.