Lenient Sentence Imposed on Muslim Man By Britain's Cherie Blair Brings Complaints

Britain's Judicial Complaints Office this week began an investigation into Cherie Blair, wife of former Prime Minister Tony Blair. Ms. Blair, who practices employment law under her maiden name, Cherie Booth, also acts as a part-time judge in London. According to UAE's The National today, Britain's National Secular Society filed a formal complaint against Ms. Blair after she gave a suspended sentence to a Muslim man who was charged with getting into an altercation over who was first in line at a bank. Blair told defendant Shamso Miah: "I am going to suspend this sentence for the period of two years based on the fact you are a religious person and have not been in trouble before. You are a religious man and you know this is not acceptable behaviour." Both the National Secular Society and the British Humanist Assoiciation have complained that Blair acted in a discriminatory manner in suggesting that a non-religious person would have been treated more harshly. At the same time, some in Britain on the political right are seizing on Blair's remarks to charge bias in favor of Muslims by "the establishment."