London - Two Muslim members of the upper house of British parliament met Saturday with the British teacher who was convicted of blasphemy in Sudan for allowing her students to name a teddy bear Mohammed. Lord Ahmed, a peer in the House of Lords for the Labour Party, and Baroness Warsi, of the Conservatives, met with Gillian Gibbons at a secret location in the Sudanese capital Khartoum, the BBC reported.
The news was welcomed by Britain's Foreign Office.
"Any efforts which complement the efforts which we are making to secure Mrs Gibbons' release are very welcome," a Foreign Office spokesman said.
Gibbons, 54 and from Liverpool, was given a 15-day jail sentence on Thursday for allegedly "insulting religion" after she had allowed her primary school pupils to name a teddy bear Mohammed.
Late on Friday, Sudanese officials said she had been moved to a secret location for her own safety, the move coming on a day when thousands of protesters, some carrying knives and clubs, demonstrated outside the presidential palace in Khartoum to demand a harsher sentence, some even demanding she be put to death.
Her lawyer Kamal al-Gizouli said she had been moved to another prison and that her condition was good. Once Gibbons had served her sentence she would be sent to Britain.
The two British peers hoped to meet the Sudanese president later Saturday to seek a pardon for Gibbons, the BBC reported.
"We have it from the top that Sudanese authorities will co-operate in relation to her release," Lord Ahmed's office told the British broadcaster Friday.
