A seven-year-old Sudanese student today defended his British teacher accused of insulting Islam saying he had chosen to call a teddy bear Mohammad after his own name.
Gillian Gibbons, a 54-year-old teacher at the Unity High School in Khartoum, was arrested on Sunday after complaints from parents that she had insulted the Prophet Mohammad and is facing a third night in jail without being charged.
British embassy officials were today trying to secure her release.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said he felt sorry for Ms Gibbons, of Liverpool.
The penalties - if she is convicted of insulting Islam's prophet by allowing her class of seven-year-old children to use the name Mohammed for the toy - include 40 lashes, six months in prison or a large fine.
Ms Gibbons young student said shyly: "The teacher asked me what I wanted to call the teddy. I said Mohammad. I named it after my name."
Sitting in his garden wearing shorts, his family, who did not want their full names used, urged him to describe what had happened.
He said he was not thinking of Islam's Prophet when asked to suggest a name, adding most of the class agreed with his choice.
In a writing exercise students were asked to keep a diary of what they did with the teddy bear. "Some people took the teddy home and took it places with them ... like the swimming pool," the child said.
Mohammad said Gibbons was "very nice" and he would be upset if she never came back to teach. He added Gibbons had not discussed religion nor did she mention the Prophet.
"We studied maths and English and spelling," he said, rubbing his mop of short, curly hair.
Abdel Rahim Ahmed Abdel Rahim from the Sudan police force's Criminal Investigation Directorate said today a decision whether to charge Gibbons with insulting Islam would be made once investigations were completed.
"She is being questioned. Then the whole matter is going to be evaluated to see whether she is going to be charged or not," he said.
If convicted of insulting Islam, Gibbons could be sentenced to 40 lashes, six months in prison or a fine, lawyers said.
Teaching colleagues and officials from the British embassy brought food for Gibbons but were not allowed to visit her.
Mohammad's family said they got most of their information from the papers after the school was closed early yesterday.
"I'm annoyed ... that this has escalated in this way," his mother said. "If it happened as Mohammad said there is no problem here - it was not intended."
His uncle said little Mohammad was a good Muslim and was already praying five times a day. "We want to also hear her side of the story," he added. Both declined to reveal their full names.
Unity director Robert Boulos had said the school would be closed until January because he was afraid of reprisals in mainly Muslim Khartoum.
In 2005 a Sudanese paper was closed for three months and its editor arrested for reprinting articles questioning the roots of the Prophet Mohammad, a move which prompted angry protests.
Al-Wifaq editor Mohamed Taha was later abducted from his home by armed men and beheaded.
Sudan's justice minister declined to immediately comment.
Reuters/AAP