Student defends Briton jailed for insulting Islam / Release hopes grow for teacher / British teacher awaits judge's ruling on "blasphemous" teddy bear

Links to various stories (and some opinion items) from throughout the day that update Monday's batch (updated both to note newer Press Association and "Washington Post" stories, as well as "Liverpool Daily Post" stories that had been overlooked, and to switch the link for the "Washington Times" story):

(In addition to his coverage for the UK's "Times", Rob Crilly has another post on his blog about the story. - EJM)

From Reuters...

• "Student defends Briton jailed for insulting Islam" (primary story; by Opheera McDoom)
• "Sudan questions British teacher over Islam insult" (earlier version; by Andrew Heavens)

By the AP's Mohamed Osman

From the Press Association...

• "Release hopes grow for teacher" (an alternate version of the above)
• "Pupil defends Islam-row teacher"

From AFP

From Bloomberg

From CNN (partly by Andrew Heavens)

From AKI

From the BBC...

• "Sudan 'could free teacher soon'" (primary story)
• "Sudan teddy insult teacher: Readers' views"

From the "Liverpool Daily Post"...

• "Sudan says case will be resolved quickly" (newer version)
• "Sudan says arrest was 'a blip'" (from earlier)
• "PM, Bishop and Muslim leader appeal for teddy teacher to be freed"
• "Teacher must be freed swiftly" (editorial)

From the "Liverpool Echo"...

• "Teacher faces 40 lashes for ‘slur’ on Islam" (primary story)
• "Religious leaders in joint call to free Gillian Gibbons"
• "Release her now" (editorial)

From the UK's "Times"...

• "'Teddy bear' teacher at risk of more serious charges" (from Wednesday's print edition)
• "British teacher awaits judge's ruling on 'blasphemous' teddy bear" (earlier, Web-only version)

From the UK's "Guardian"...

• "Pupil defends teacher in Muhammad teddy furore" (from Wednesday's print edition; by Xan Rice and Andrew Heavens)
• "Sudan plays down teddy blasphemy case" (earlier, Web-only version)

"Comment Is Free" posts...

• "A teddy called Muhammad: As a colleague of Gillian Gibbons, I know that none of the parents raised any objection to the name of our school's toy bear" (by MB Jefferies)
• "A silly affair: Let's hope the Sudanese authorities can see the harm this ridiculous case could do to their already poor human rights image" (by Inayat Bunglawala)

From the UK's "Telegraph"...

• "Teddy bear row teacher could be spared jail" (apparently newer version)
• "Diplomatic row erupts over teddy teacher" (apparently earlier version)
• "Teddy slur teacher 'may face sedition charge'" (apparently still-earlier version)
• "Third day in Sudan jail over teddy Mohammed" (apparently still-still-earlier version)
• "Jailed teacher 'in Africa to start new life'" (related profile feature)
• "Tolerance can only thrive in a two-way street" (column by Jan Moir)
• "'Moderate' Muslims speak out" ("Holy Smoke" blog post by Damian Thompson of the "Catholic Herald")

From the UK's "Sun"

From the UK's "Mirror"

From the UK's "Evening Standard"

From the UK's "Daily Express"

From the UK's "Metro"

From the UK's "Daily Record"

From the "Washington Times"

From the "Washington Post"

From EuroNews

From Radio New Zealand

Wichita Falls (Tex.) "Times Record News" editorial

AOL News Bloggers post by Ada Calhoun