Skip to content Skip to sidebar Skip to footer

One Law for All’s Letter to the Prime Minister

Dear Prime Minister,

I represent the One Law for All campaign. I write in response to your speech of February 5th 2011 and to ask for your support in bringing to an end the injustices currently being perpetrated in sharia councils and tribunals across Britain.

In your speech you stated the following:

“Let’s properly judge these organisations: Do they believe in universal human rights – including for women and people of other faiths? Do they believe in equality of all before the law? Do they believe in democracy and the right of people to elect their own government? Do they encourage integration or separatism?”

You then went on to say that organisations which failed to respond to such questions positively, should not be engaged with by the British state.

In sharia law, a woman’s word is worth half of that of a man. Child custody is awarded to fathers regardless of the circumstances of the case. A man can obtain a divorce by repudiation whereas it is extremely difficult for women to show grounds for divorce, even if abuse or violence has been proved. In sharia’s criminal code, apostasy (denouncing one’s religion) carries the death penalty, as does homosexuality. Women convicted of adultery under sharia law also face death, often by stoning (buried to her waist and stones thrown at her head until she dies). Sharia does not recognise a woman’s right to refuse sex to her husband and rape within marriage was described as “impossible” by Sheikh Maulana Abu Sayeed, president of the Islamic Sharia Council in Britain in October 2010.

Apologists for sharia law often claim that it is restricted “only” to civil cases in Britain, or that there is no appetite for sharia’s criminal code to be enforced either in the UK or Europe. However, in 2010, Sheikh Maulana Abu Sayeed declared that rape and domestic violence cases were being heard and decided in sharia courts in the UK (with no punishments handed down to the perpetrators). Furthermore, in 2009, Sarfraz Sarwar, leader of the Basildon Islamic Centre in Essex told a journalist that the solution to underage sex and pregnancy in Britain was to “stone the girl”. Also in 2009, a Spanish woman was sentenced to death by stoning for adultery in a makeshift sharia court there. These examples provide evidence of some of the true aims and aspirations of sharia advocates in Europe.

As has been described, sharia law in Britain is being applied in the area of criminal law. However, perhaps the most common area of practice is within a family law context; this was condemned by now Attorney General Dominic Grieve in 2008 as being unlawful. In family law, as stated above, a woman’s word is worth half of that of a man, and child custody reverts only to fathers – regardless of the circumstances.

It is clear that sharia law does not support the concept of universal human rights or gender equality – either in its civil or criminal code. It does not respect the notion of equality before the law nor does it accept a person’s right to leave their religion. It does not promote cohesion but separatism, and its use in Britain has led to a diminishing of rights for Muslim women and children.

Please tell us if your government now intends to cease engagement with groups which operate or support institutions practicing sharia law and thereby promote separateness and legal segregation in the UK.

In your speech you said that you wished to see greater integration between different religious and social groups in Britain, but this can not happen if we continue to support or to fund groups which promote a legal system which is fundamentally opposed to British legal principles such as gender equality and equal rights before the law. Sharia is a threat to equality in law and is creating a separate judicial system in which Muslim women have fewer rights than their non-Muslim neighbours. Sharia is promoting a ghettoisation of Muslims in Britain and diminishing secularism. Several recent judicial rulings have shown that religious belief or practice can not ride roughshod over the human rights of others.

We therefore ask that you ban all use of sharia courts and tribunals in Britain. Such institutions are behaving unlawfully as they contravene section 6 of the Human Rights Act which requires that all courts and tribunals operate in accordance with the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). Article 6 of the ECHR provides that all people should receive a fair and impartial hearing in legal proceedings – this is clearly and evidently not the case for women subject to sharia law, who face gender-based bias from the very outset.

In 2008, then Shadow Security Minister Lady Neville-Jones stated in a speech in Birmingham that the Conservative Party would ban sharia courts if it came to power. We are now asking that you stick to this ideal and that your party actively promote an equal application of the law for all people in Britain; thereby enhancing cohesion, secularism, democracy, and gender equality.

Our organisation would be very pleased to meet with you or your advisers on this very important issue.

Yours sincerely,

Spokesperson
One Law for All

5 Comments

  • Adam Capps
    Posted 20th February 2011 10:09 pm 0Likes

    Here, here. I think this is a succinct letter. There can be no social cohesion when the ideal is being scuppered by the promotion of the ghettoisation of Muslims in Britain and diminishing secularism, fuelled by the drive for Sharia Law.

  • Stuart Parsons
    Posted 21st February 2011 9:21 pm 0Likes

    Sharia is only supportive of the unreasonable rights of Muslim Men and such courts should not be allowed to operate anywhere within the United Kingdom’

    Islam is, as apostates tell us, ‘a veritable disaster area’,’the biggest lie in history’,’a vile religion’,’which teaches nothing but hate’ and ‘must be eradicated from the face of the Earth,’

    Islam is a much greater threat to the well-being of mankind than Fascism, Communism and the hordes of Genghis Khan ever were.

  • Lorraine Harding
    Posted 24th March 2011 11:37 am 0Likes

    A thoroughly excellent letter. Did the Prime Minister’s Office ever respond, I wonder?

  • Anne Marie Waters
    Posted 8th May 2011 7:44 pm 0Likes

    Lorraine, we received a reply from the Prime Minister’s office telling me that they have forwarded our letter to the Ministry of Justice. I have however written to that department previously, and received no response. Any reply we do receive (if at all) will be posted on the website.

  • surj
    Posted 10th May 2011 3:14 pm 0Likes

    I for one don’t blame muslims for holding Sharia law courts here,I blame your subsequent Governments who had bent back words to appease muslims for their votes. They will never learn how evil Sharia laws are or don’t care to know.This is also part of Sharia Law, which comes from Quran Sura 4:34 ” Men have authority over women because Allah has made the one superior to the others, and because they spend their wealth to maintain them.Good women are obedient .They guard their unseen (parts)because Allah has guarded them. As for those frm whom you fear disobedence,admonish them and send them to beds apart and beat them.Then if they obey you,take no further action against them.Allah is High,Supreme” That is the reason why muslim men behave the way they do. google rawa.org

Leave a comment

Make a Donation

You can help One Law for All in its important work by donating. We really do need financial support.
Every penny helps in the fight against religious based laws and in defence of equality and secularism.

PayPal / Credit Card

Donate

Please send a cheque made payable to ‘One Law for All’ and post to:
BM Box 2387 London WC1N 3XX, UK

We’re always looking for regular donations, however small so please join the One Law for All 100 Club
if you are able to set up a standing order. See the details below:

Join One Law for All 100 Club - Introduction
One Law for All 100 Club – Standing Order