British teacher, Gillian Gibbons, 54, was arrested in Khartoum on Sunday facing charges of blasphemy of insulting Islam’s Prophet after she allowed her seven-year-old pupils to name the class’ teddy bear, Muhammad.

One Sudanese pupil from her class said that it was his idea to name the teddy bear like that, and that he didn’t name it after the prophet, but after him.

He said: “The teacher asked me what I wanted to call the teddy. I said Muhammad. I named it after my name,” BBC News quotes.

According to the Sudanese Embassy in London, the situation was "storm in a teacup" and there are signs that she will be released soon due to the fact that the incident was a cultural misunderstanding.

A spokesman for the Sudanese embassy in London, Dr Khalid al Mubarak, said: “What is happening now is standard procedure because one of the parents has complained and the police are bound to investigate just as is the case in any country in which there is rule of law. I am pretty certain that this minute incident will be clarified very quickly and this teacher who has been helping us with the teaching of children will be safe and will be cleared. Our relationship with Britain is so good that we wouldn’t like such a minute event to be overblown.”

Ms. Gibbons received visits from three British embassy staff and one of her colleagues at Sudan's Criminal Exploration Bureau where she has spent three nights.

Efforts are being made to release her, according to Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

He said they are keeping contact with the Sudanese police authorities and the Sudanese government to make sure that Ms. Gibson is safe. Brown said that he felt “very sorry” about the situation.

The teddy bear received its name in September when the pupils were asked to vote for a name for the toy as part of a study of animals and their habitats in their class.

The boy’s parents said that the child wasn’t thinking of the prophet when he named the toy. They’ve also said that Ms. Gibson was a “very nice” teacher.

It is considered an insult to Islam to make an image of the Prophet Muhammad.

Ms. Gibson was arrested due to some of complaints made by some of the children’s parents at the Unity High School, in Khartoum.

The school was closed until January until everything is cleared and Ms. Gibbson was suspended from her position as a teacher.

Assistant secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain, Inayat Bunglawala, said that this incident was a "quite horrible misunderstanding".

He said that there was no intention to offend Islamic sensibilities or denigrate the honor and name of the Prophet Muhammad.