Freed teacher: Sudan a beautiful place

LONDON, Dec. 4 (UPI) -- The British school teacher freed from a jail in Sudan says she had a good time in the country until her arrest for naming a teddy bear after a Muslim prophet.

Gillian Gibbons, 54, arrived in London from Khartoum Monday accompanied by two Muslim members of the House of Lords who negotiated her release with Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir.

She told the BBC all was going well until she was sentenced to jail last week for allowing her students to name the toy after Mohammed.

"I am very sorry to leave Sudan. I had a fabulous time. ... The Sudanese people I found to be extremely kind and generous and until this happened, I only had a good experience," she said. "I wouldn't like to put anyone off going to Sudan."

Last Friday, about 1,000 conservative Muslims rallied outside the presidential palace demanding her execution for the sacrilege against the prophet.

Meanwhile, Gibbons said she faces a new challenge.

"I'm looking for a job -- I am jobless," she told the BBC.