Miliband tried to stop Muslim peers rescuing the teddy bear teacher from Sudanese jail

12 April 2012

Foreign Secretary David Miliband tried to stop the mission by two Muslim peers who rescued British teacher Gillian Gibbons from jail in Sudan, it has been claimed.

Mr Miliband also objected to the involvement of Tory Baroness Warsi because, as a frontbench spokeswoman, she had no right to take part.

In the event, Labour's Lord Ahmed and Baroness Warsi defied the Foreign Office and flew to Sudan at their own expense to win the release of Mrs Gibbons who was imprisoned for allowing Sudanese schoolchildren to name a teddy bear Mohammed.

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Saviour: Gillian Gibbons with Lord Ahmed who, as he waited for Foreign Office clearance, exclaimed: 'Damn it! I'm going whether the Foreign Office likes it or not.'

The Foreign Office told them they were doing so at their own risk, the British Government could not be expected to bail them out if it went wrong – and they would get only limited support from the British embassy.

Diplomatic sources said that earlier, the Foreign Office had urged them not to go and that a senior aide to Mr Miliband dismissed the need to free Mrs Gibbons, saying it would be easier to let her serve the jail sentence in full.

Yet their mission was urgent. Last night Mrs Gibbons told of her fear of being raped by her guards while in jail.

She said her greatest worry was that her guards would "teach the blaspheming white woman a lesson – that they would rape me or hit me".

She said she felt as if she had been "run over by ten juggernauts" when sentenced to 15 days in jail.

The Mail on Sunday was told that hours before the two peers were due to fly to Sudan the trip was in danger of being called off because the Foreign Office had not given the go-ahead.

As he waited in vain to hear from the FO, Lord Ahmed exploded in rage, saying: "Damn it, I am going whether the Government wants me to or not."

"Both Lord Ahmed and Baroness Warsi felt let down," said one source. "They were prepared to take a huge gamble at considerable risk to themselves because it was the only chance of getting Mrs Gibbons out safely.

"They were told the trip would never succeed, that Ahmed should not take a Conservative front-bencher and that it might make things worse.

"The Foreign Office said it should be carried out by an official delegation but that would have taken weeks and Mrs Gibbons would still be in jail.

"They put up objection after objection and seemed totally unable to make any decision.

"William Hague and David Cameron immediately saw the potential of the trip and acted decisively as the Foreign Office dithered."

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Obstructive: Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband tried to stop the mission to rescue Gillian Gibbons and objected to the involvement of Tory Baroness Warsi

At one point a Foreign Office official dismissed the urgent need to get Mrs Gibbons out, saying: "She'll be out in a few days anyway." Insiders contrasted Mr Miliband's sceptical approach to the enthusiastic support for the trip by Mr Hague and Tory leader Mr Cameron.

After being telephoned in the US by Baroness Warsi, the two Tories immediately interrupted a trip to Washington to meet President George Bush and contacted Mr Miliband to plead with him to back the rescue mission.

Mr Miliband questioned whether a Tory front-bencher should be involved. Mr Hague said protocol should be set aside to help Mrs Gibbons.

Lord Ahmed, who initiated the mission as a result of established links with the Sudanese government, invited Baroness Warsi after the Sudanese told him that for religious reasons, they would prefer to hand over Mrs Gibbons to a female Muslim Parliamentarian.

When the peers arrived in Khartoum, the capital of Sudan, they clashed with president Omar al Bashir when they told him people in Britain did not understand why Mrs Gibbons had been imprisoned over such a trivial matter.

The president criticised anti-terror laws in Britain and America, saying: "You support the detention of people without trial. At least Mrs Gibbons was tried in a court of law. That does not always happen in Britain."

The Sudanese also complained that Britain had detained two Sudanese citizens on terror charges without trial. When Lord Ahmed volunteered to urge the Government to send them back to Khartoum, the Sudanese backed off.

He also had a heated debate with Muslim scholars who said they would not allow insults against Islam by foreigners. "Do not tell me what is offensive to Muslims," he said. "I am a Muslim and can judge as well as you what is and is not offensive.

"We live in a multi-cultural society and respect all religions."

A Foreign Office source said: "It is not true that we tried to block the trip. In the end it all worked out brilliantly but it wasn't always clear that it was going to do so and we had to point out the risks.

"It wasn't a question of whether we were supportive or not, it was a self-financed private initiative."

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