A British teacher at an exclusive Sudanese school was sentenced to 15 days in prison after allowing her class to name the class’ communal teddy bear, “Muhammad.â€Â

Charges against the 54-year-old educator could have earned her 40 lashes and up to six months in prison.

The class, all 7-year-olds, had put it to a vote. They pretty much agreed on the name, and the teacher had no problem with it.

Muhammad is a pretty common name in Islamic countries, after all. In fact, it̢۪s the most common name, but because it̢۪s also the name of their chief prophet. For lack of a better comparison, he is to Islam what Moses is to Judaism.

I could imagine a similar outcry in American if a class named its stuffed tiger Jesus, but it’s not like that’s nearly as common of a name. Even within Hispanic-speaking countries, Jesús isn’t nearly as common as Muhammad is within Islamic countries.

Cassius Clay liked that name, remember.

Far be it from me to impose my Western values and Establishment Clause on another country, but this conviction just seems politically motivated. The original story I read made the claim.

I wouldn̢۪t put it past the Sudanese government to charge this teacher with blasphemy merely as a cheap sort of retaliation. There̢۪s a sort of record over there for uncouth tactics.

What, really does Sudan have to gain from convicting a foreign woman of a crime that she was only tacitly accomplice to?

This is really the sort of thing that only makes sense in context, and not as a maneuver on the world stage. If it were, it would really boggle the mind.

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In other news: New York stagehand strike ends, but Los Angeles writers keep on trucking; military ruler says he’ll reinstate freedom only after he got elected; and Christmas means a whole lot more to Bush this year.