Judge, Wife of Tony Blair, Cleared Over Sentencing Comments

UK Press Association yesterday reported that Britain's Office for Judicial Complaints cleared Cherie Blair, wife of former Prime Minister Tony Blair, of charges of judicial misconduct. (OJC Statement, 6/10). Blair sits as a part-time judge at Inner London Crown Court, using her maiden name, Cherie Booth. As previously reported, Booth sentencing defendant Shamso Miah in an assault case, told him: "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 Association 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 charged bias in favor of Muslims.