Select Committee inquiry into sharia councils criticised

Tim Dieppe comments on a critique of the Select Committee inquiry, by Muslim women's rights campaigner, Fozia Rashid.

Tim Dieppe comments on the critique of a Select Committee inquiry into Sharia councils operating in the UK, by Muslim women's rights campaigner, Fozia Rashid.

The Home Affairs Committee is running an inquiry into sharia councils operating in the UK. This is separate to the government's independent review into the application of sharia law, which has been criticised both for its terms of reference and the makeup of the panel. The latter has consequently been boycotted by women's rights campaigners.

Muslim women's rights campaigner, Fozia Rashid, attended a select committee hearing and has recently written a blog post about the experience. She describes how she was "shocked at the lack of incisive questioning" by committee members. She argues:

"In particular, the testimony of the third panel, comprising the Chairman and Vice Chairman of the UK Board of Sharia Councils and a member of the Islamic Sharia Council, was remarkable in its level of disingenuousness and contradiction, which was totally unchallenged by the select committee."

Contradictory Evidence

She points out several clear contradictions in the evidence provided to the committee which went unchallenged by the committee. A full transcript of the session is available online, but it is worth repeating the contradictions that Fozia Rashid highlights:

The Vice Chairman of UK Board of Sharia Councils said "if Sharia Councils are banned … we will have back street and not transparent" Sharia councils.

The Chairman of the UK Board of Sharia Councils said "we don't know how many Sharia Councils there are." "some people talk about 80, some people talk about 30, or 50, I don't know. There are no records for this and no studies"
He went on to say "small shops, who are doing the marriage and divorce, maybe hidden in the basement or somewhere".

This total contradiction was UNCHALLENGED

The Vice Chairman said "We can regularise and standardise" Sharia councils.

The Chairman said "we cannot force the Sharia councils to be members"

This was UNCHALLENGED

The Vice Chairman stated "None of the Sharia councils are overstepping the mark" "Sharia councils train people to know the law of the land"

The Chairman said "we don't know how many Sharia Councils there are"

UNCHALLENGED

Khola Hasan of the Islamic Sharia Council said "we are a religious organisation that is answerable to God, nobody else"

But then she also stated "We know that English law takes precedence"

This was UNCHALLENGED

Then she said "As far as polygamy is concerned.....they are actually not guilty of bigamy because the marriage is not registered in the civil legal system. There is no bigamy going on. It's the same as a man having a mistress".

It was then stated "if you have a wife in Pakistan and a wife in the UK potentially you could be arrested for bigamy"

Another contradiction UNCHALLENGED!

Forced marriage

Fozia Rashid was herself a victim of a forced marriage, literally at gunpoint, by her uncle in Kashmir. She related her story at a meeting in the House of Lords last week. She explained how sharia law directly affected her even when she returned to the UK:

"After my forced marriage, on returning to the UK, immigration services told me that if my marriage was not registered in this country, it would not be valid. It was never registered. And yet after a long fight against the UK legal system, including my own solicitor, at the age of 21 I had no choice but to accept a divorce through the UK courts. This was despite my attempts to get the marriage annulled, as it should have been.

"Therefore, in this instance, Sharia clearly took precedence over UK law.

"The local police force in Nottingham did not enforce UK law. Before the divorce was issued my husband took another wife to secure his stay in the UK. Bigamy is illegal under UK law. But the police told me it was allowed in Islam, so they refused to arrest him.

"Another instance in which Sharia had a basis in English Law."

Sharia court approves honour killing

This comes after it was revealed last month that a UK sharia court in Lancashire ruled that a man was entitled to exact the death penalty on his neighbour's children. It would be merciful to negotiate financial compensation in lieu of their death, the court ruled, but he was not obliged to do so. The 'crime' was illicit sex.

Lords support curbing sharia courts

Last week, Baroness Cox's Arbitration and Mediation Services (Equality) Bill passed its second reading in the House of Lords with strong support from peers, including Lord Carey. Both the independent review and the select committee review are expected to report later this year.

Fozia has attended a sharia court hearing herself, and experienced their discrimination first hand. She concludes:

"Sharia courts cannot continue as a parallel Judiciary. They cannot be allowed to provide marriage and divorce certificates. We cannot allow rulings which are incompatible with laws, values, principles and policies of our country. Sharia does not operate within the framework of the English legal system. It has its own legal system which continues to oppress women. The only way to end discrimination against women in the Muslim community is to make Sharia courts illegal."