MPACUK warmly welcomes the pardoning of school teacher Gillian Gibbons after her sentencing under Sudanese blasphemy laws.  Her presidential pardon was secured by the efforts of Labour peer Lord Nazir Ahmed and Conservative peer Baroness Sayeeda Warsi.  Their negotiations with the Sudanese government were entirely separate from the official and ultimately unsuccessful British government negotiations.

Both the Labour Party and the Conservatives would be wise to respect their respective Muslim peers a little more in the future.  There was a lot of hostility within Conservative ranks about the enoblement of Baroness Warsi, an articulate young Muslim female from the North of England.  Lord Ahmed has also had quite a trying relationship with the Labour leadership in the past.  It seems their peerages have already reaped dividends, and they should be warmly congratulated upon their return.

This whole sorry saga was blown out of all proportion by the Sudanese government who seemed willing to allow a miscarriage of justice to take place in front of the world against a teacher who came to Sudan to educate their children.

Children often anthromorphosise their toys and in the case of this teddy bear, rather than perceive the naming of the toy as some calculated act of blasphemy, the government should have realised this was a child's mark of affection.  Incredibly, this seemingly innocent act became a full-blown international diplomatic incident.  The only winners from this incident are the toy manufacturers and Britain's growing number of Islamophobes.

It is also worth noting that Ms Gibbons’ MP is Louise Ellman. The Labour MP for Liverpool Riverside and rather shrill member of the controversial lobby group Labour Friends of Israel.   No doubt Ms Ellman would have been obliged to write to the Sudanese government, but because of her historic hostility towards Muslim governments and Muslim organisations, her letter would have had zero impact.  It is also worth noting that Boris Johnson, the Conservative prospective mayoral candidate for London, hankered after old-fashioned gunboat diplomacy.  It would be difficult to imagine a more inappropriate person to run the great city of London.

MPACUK, other British Muslims organisations and individual British Muslims all called for the immediate release of Ms Gibbons.  MPACUK lobbied the Sudanese through the media, wrote to the Sudanese Ambassador and protested outside the Sudanese embassy.

One of the positive aspects of this sorry saga was the proof, if any were needed, that there isn't a dichotomy between Britain's Muslims and non-Muslims.  We can all be on the same side and given the chance, Britain’s Muslims can provide a positive contribution to our nation.  No prizes for guessing what the best selling toy for Christmas is going to be!