Why all the fuss ?............

[bazwillrun]

about this bloke

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/west_yorksh ire/6162482.stm

hes a convicted murderer until proven otherwise
i couldnt care less about him or his problems now hes back

[WaldoMcFroog]

Interesting that you say that. You're normally one of those on here who is vocal about his feelings on Sharia law.

Well, under the standard Pakistani law, the chap in question had been exonerated on all charges. He was then retried under Sharia law when a death sentence was reinstated.

The fuss is because it was a high profile case of a miscarriage of justice that involved the intervention of the Prince of Wales, several MPs and the President of Pakistan and resulted in a man being saved from death. Most people would consider that fairly newsworthy.

Perhaps if you couldn't care less, you should stop reading stories about him.

[Buenchico]

As WMcF states, this man was exonerated by Pakistan's civil justice system. In Pakistan, a person is usually tried by either a civil court or by an Islamic one, and the verdict of the relevant court is regarded as final. So it was extremely unusual that he should be brought before an Islamic court after being cleared by the civil justice system.

There was never any doubt that the gun which fired the fatal shot was owned by the taxi driver. The accused person's defence was that the taxi driver had tried to sexually assault him at gunpoint and that the gun had gone off in the struggle which followed. Trying to prove, or disprove, anything relating to sexual misconduct, before an Islamic court is notoriously difficult. For example a woman who claims she was raped must produce 4 male witnesses (all of whom must not be related to her) to support her case. Otherwise she may be charged with adultery.

It is right that the British government, and the British people, should respect the verdicts of foreign courts when those courts have systems of justice which comply with international standards. Regrettably, Pakistan's Islamic courts fall well short of those standards.

I should make it clear that I'm not particularly 'anti-Islam' (although, as a 'campaigning atheist', I'm opposed to all religions). I'm simply 'pro-justice'.

Chris

[jonnythebosh]

Another example as if we needed one of the utter discrace that is sharia law, that a substantial number of muslims would happily introduce in this country if given the chance.

[noxlumos]

.... and so we go veering off the subject and towards the more familiar and comfortable one of Muslim bashing.
Just once can't we stick to the question?
Very newsworthy for the above reasons, that's why it's on TV and in the papers. Dead simple.

[jonnythebosh]

Just pointing out facts nox, as usual.

[jake-the-peg]

No you're expressing an opinion. A fact is backed up with verifyable data

So I might reference the link to the telegraph survey showing 40% of a group of moslems thought having some areas of the UK subject to Sharia Law would be a good idea
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml =/news/2006/02/19/nsharia19.xml

and I might show a similar link showing that there were 1.6 million Moslems in the UK at the time of the census.

http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id =954

I might infer from this that just over half a million moslems hold this point of view.

I might also point out that at that census nearly 400,000 people said that they were Jedis

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/2757067.stm

Now those are facts!

If I were to say that Jedi laws and the studying of the force would be mandatory if these people got their way!

But that would be opinion

[druiaghtagh]

As he was found not guilty under civil law , that is it as far as i am concerned, he lived for 18 years under threat of execution and now looks 30 years older than he is, cant imagine how he suffered and how long it will take him th adapt to normal life again, its irrelevant what race or creed he is. Bazwillum you should be aware he was only guilty under Sharia law which is a travesty,if you dont care then why post?. I for one hope he can adjust and get on with a normal happy life

[wnjxc21]

if you commit a crime in country that has those laws then you have no case i'm afriad! as harsh and daft as the laws may sound, He was aware of the law when he did what he did....do the crime, do the time!

[sp1814]

wnjxc21 - I think the point that people are trying to make is that he was found not guilty...then guilty under almost unprecendented circumstances.

I have 100% sympathy for him and his fami...

You know something? Is it my imagination, or are people just less caring for each other than we were 20 years ago?

What's happening? Seriously...what have we all become????

[LeMarchand]

baz and wnjxc21: so if some guy tried to rape you at gunpoint and the gun went off in the struggle and killed him, you reported the incident and (after 8 years in some -no doubt - hellhole of a prison) eventually got to court to be acquitted only to be slammed back in by a bunch of religious fanatics for another 10 years with the threat of execution hanging over you, you'd think it was a "fair cop"?

[wnjxc21]

I wouldn't find myself in such a backward country to begin with...but if i did, i'm afraid i'd have to get on with it,yeah