Well there i was minding my own business polishing off a brace of poached eggs with some lightly buttered toast when Radio Four almost made me spill it down my shirt. I am indebted to The Today Programme for bringing this incident to my attention because although the story is covered on the BBC News Web Site here (news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8497365.stm) you have to look damned hard as their search engine seemed most reluctant to let me have this link, something I cannot consider a coincidence.

I think the story is best read from the page of the National Secular Society

The NSS was a founder member of the One Law for All Campaign which seeks to impede the march of sharia law in Britain. Naturally we think that in a democracy everyone must be equal under the law, with no exceptions. Sharia law is full of exceptions and it is clear that women are not equal under that system.

But now we discover that a different — more favourable — system of justice is being applied to religious people by Cherie Blair (professional name Cherie Booth) in her capacity as a judge. Last week in the Inner London Crown Court, Ms Blair/Booth spared a violent yob from prison because he is a “religious man”.

Shamso Miah, 25 — described as a devout Muslim — went from a local mosque in East Ham, London to a bank where he became embroiled in an argument with another man about his place in the queue. He grabbed Mohammed Furcan and punched him in the face. Miah ran outside but Mr Furcan chased after him and demanded to know why he had been attacked.

Miah then punched him again, knocking him to the ground and fracturing his jaw. Mr Miah said he had acted in self defence but the bank’s CCTV showed clearly that he was the aggressor. He then pleased guilty to occasioning actual bodily harm.

Yet despite saying violence on our streets “has to be taken seriously” Ms Blair/Booth QC let Miah walk free from court, telling 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 caused a mild fracture to the jaw of a member of the public standing in a queue at Lloyds Bank. You are a religious man and you know this is not acceptable behaviour.”

The NSS go on to say

Now, what would have happened if he had been an atheist? Would Mrs Blair/Booth have refused to suspend the sentence on the grounds that non-believers have no guiding principles that tell them that smashing people in the face for no good reason is not the right thing to do?  This is a very worrying case of discrimination that appears to show that religious people get different treatment in Cherie Blair’s court.

We of course know the answer to that. 

We know this outrageous woman would have sent a Christian to the cells without a second thought, never mind an aethist.

So a big thank you to the NSS for taking the stance it is and I wish you well with your legal campaign. For the Great Britain I was born in, the Great Britain I grew up in, the Great Britain that I consider worth fighting for was a country where under the law all men and all women for that matter were equal  - which is a damn sight more than can be said of a sharia court.

This woman should be dismissed from her post for this clear atttempt to undermine the system of justice that has operated in this country since my ancestors came here with William Duke of Normandy to take the throne from Harold Godwinson.