The BBC was forced to broadcast an on-air apology today after a local radio presenter in Nottingham joked that freed British schoolteacher Gillian Gibbons had a dog named Muhammad.
Frances Finn, who presents BBC Radio Nottingham’s mid-morning show, made the off-the-cuff comment yesterday in a conversation with a guest about Gibbons.
Finn said “Gillian Gibbons’ son is at the airport and is pleased to see her and I am sure her dog, Muhammad, is very pleased to see her as well”, according to a BBC spokeswoman. BBC Radio Nottingham broadcast an apology earlier today.
The primary school teacher was freed from a Sudanese prison earlier this week after being jailed for allowing seven-year-old pupils to give the teddy bear the same name as the Muslim prophet.
“In her programme on BBC Radio Nottingham yesterday, the presenter, Frances Finn, made an off-the-cuff remark during an item on the release of Gillian Gibbons from Sudan,” the spokeswoman added.
“Although it was far from the presenter’s intention to cause offence, the remark was ill-judged and entirely inappropriate. The BBC would like to apologise for the offence the remark will have caused to listeners.”
Gibbons was jailed for 15 days and faced calls for her execution. She was pardoned on Monday by Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir following a rescue mission by British peers Lord Ahmed of Rotherham and Baroness Sayeeda Warsi.
Najeeb Nazir, who works at Nottingham Pakistan Centre, made the original complaint to the BBC after hearing the conversation as he drove to work.
Nazir said the decision by the Sudanese courts to jail Mrs Gibbons was extreme but that he had taken offence against what he described as a deliberate joke against Muhammad on the radio show.
“I disagree with what the Sudanese did with that lady, which was in the extreme. But if people deliberately make a joke to offend a religious figurehead then it’s very offensive,” he said.
“Muslims do hold the Prophet Muhammad in very high regard. He is the messenger of God and central to Islam.
“To make a joke on the back of what happened with the teddy bear in Sudan is frankly appalling and for that to happen on the BBC is very bad.”
Nazir also said he was unhappy with the apology - broadcast by BBC Radio Nottingham this morning - because it was too brief.