"This has certainly given ammunition to those who never miss an opportunity to portray Muslims as intolerant."

Said Inayat Bunglawala, spokesman for the Muslim Council of Britain. "This case has done quite a bit of damage to how the Sudanese government will be perceived; they have done their country no favors."

He was commenting on news of the pardon of Gillian Gibbons, the British woman imprisoned for allowing her schoolchildren to name the class teddy bear Muhammad.