Khartoum, Sudan — Thousands of angry Sudanese, some carrying knives and sticks, marched in Khartoum Friday denouncing what they termed a lenient verdict against a British teacher for insulting Islam and calling for her to be shot.
"Those who insult the Prophet of Islam should be punished with bullets," demonstrators shouted after Gillian Gibbons, 54, was jailed for 15 days on charges stemming from naming a teddy bear Mohammed.
Others chanted "governor: execute her!"
The demonstrators flocked into the centre of the Sudanese capital from several mosques following Friday prayers the day after a criminal court passed sentence on the woman.
The teacher could have faced a maximum sentence of 40 lashes, six months' jail and a fine.
Sheikh Hussein Mubarak told thousands of faithful gathered for the Muslim day of prayer that the court's "verdict was lenient out of fear of criticism from human rights organisations, America and the West".
He railed at what he said was an attempt "to transform Sudan from an Islamic state into a Christian state," adding that the British teacher had come to Sudan "as part of that design".
"Why did this teacher come to Sudan? She surely didn't need to emigrate from her country for the money? So she came for another reason...," he told the faithful at the Al-Safa mosque in the city's eastern Jarif district.
He denounced "those who try to defend democracy and human rights and insult the Prophet," adding that he did not think the teacher would even serve out the 15-day sentence.
Earlier Sheikh Abdul Jalil Karuri at the central Martyr's Mosque that Gibbons "did it with the intention of insulting Islam."
The crowd responded with cries of "the army of Islam will prevail."
The trial itself took place behind a significant police barrier to avoid such demonstrations which have, as with last year's publication of caricatures of Prophet Mohammed in Denmark, previously led to violence.
Foreign Secretary David Miliband said the trial stemmed from an "innocent misunderstanding" as diplomatic contacts continued "in the search for a swift resolution of this issue," the Foreign Office in London said.
British embassy officials visited Gibbons in prison at an undisclosed location earlier Friday after she began serving her sentence. The 15-day sentence was to run from Sunday when she was arrested.
"The consul and the deputy ambassador visited her this morning and she was fine," an embassy spokesman told AFP. "She's in good spirits and she's not being mistreated or anything like that."
Friday's demonstration was called by the Committee of Ulemas and the Partisans of the Prophet as well as other religious associations. Some imams called for the faithful to congretate outside the presidential palace in the centre of Khartoum after the prayers.