Lord Tebbit Calls Sharia 'the Law of Gangsters'

Staunch Tory Norman Tebbit has made a speech to the House of Lords which likens Sharia law to the system of arbitration which gangsters the Kray twins once enforced on the streets of East London.

Tebbit said:

'Are you not aware that there is extreme pressure put upon vulnerable women to go through a form of arbitration that results in them being virtually precluded from access to British law?'

He was backed by several Lords. including Lord Pearson of Rannoch who issued the invitation to Geert Wilders which led to the latter being banned from the country.

His speech came after ministers confirmed the role of Sharia courts in certain civil matters, claiming that certain Orthodox Jewish communities in Britain have similar autonomy on some matters:

Last autumn, ministers confirmed that sharia tribunals may deal with family and divorce disputes among Muslims, and that sharia decisions need only the briefest scrutiny in a law court to win full legal effect.

Five sharia courts currently operate mediation systems approved under the 1996 Arbitration Act.

Their decisions on divorce, money and children can be approved by a family court if they are submitted to a judge for approval.

There was predictable anger and cries of 'ignorance' from Muslims:

Inayat Bunglawala, of the Muslim Council of Britain, said: 'We can only wonder whether Lord Tebbit has ever set foot in a sharia council to see what they actually do before making such a baseless and ignorant comparison with the workings of the Kray brothers.

'Both Muslim sharia councils and Orthodox Jewish Beth Din courts exist to try and help resolve civil disputes amongst individuals through a voluntary process of arbitration. They are entirely legal and have to operate firmly within the law.'

Sharia law is perhaps one of the most primitive and barbaric legal codes which man has ever conceived of.

It has no place in a modern, civilised society, and it certainly has no place in a non-Muslim country.

This country needs as many people to stand up and say so as possible.