DOUBLE STANDARDS UNDER BRITISH LAW:A. MILLAR
http://www.hudson-ny.org/2652/double-standards-under-british-law
Is it appropriate for a judge to suspend a sentence of a convicted, violent criminal – so that he can walk free instead of serving time – if the criminal is “religious”?
In early 2010 Cherie Blair Q.C., wife of Prime Minister Tony Blair, suspended the sentence of Shamso Miah, who had assaulted and injured a man.
According to the police, on the day of the incident Miah, a Muslim, had left a mosque, and gone to a local bank, where he became embroiled in a disagreement with another man, Mohammed Furcan, whom he then punched in the face. Furcan chased Miah outside and demanded to know why he had been assaulted, at which point Miah punched him to the ground, breaking his jaw. Miah claimed that he had acted in self-defense, but security cameras at the bank showed this to be a lie.
“I am going to suspend this sentence for the period of two years,” Blair told Miah at sentencing, “based on the fact you are a religious person and have not been in trouble before.”
Terry Sanderson of the National Secular Society told the Daily Mail that “we strongly feel that this kind of consideration [for a felon’s religion] should not play any part in sentencing. The idea that someone who is religious gets a lighter sentence is outrageous.”
For several decades – especially over the last ten years – British authorities have placed “community cohesion” over equality before the law. Roughly translated, “community cohesion” means that cultures have a higher priority than people. If a policy – or actions — by an authority might possibly “offend” some of the louder members of a “community,” then that policy or those actions will either not be implemented or will be circumscribed by soothing pronouncements about the community’s supposedly massive contribution to the country.
Since 9/11, the British Government and its authorities have been especially sensitive to the “Muslim community,” or, to put it more accurately, to the demands of particular Muslim men. Mrs. Blair may have let Miah go free because of his “religion;” but the victim, and his co-religionist, Mohammed Furcan was left with no redress under the law.
Community cohesion has strained the legal system to the breaking point: judging people by their actions is only selectively applied. Police, it has transpired on a number of occasions, have simply turned a blind eye to serious crimes committed by Muslims, even when the victims are – like Mr. Furcan – also Muslims.
Earlier this year it was revealed that police in the London borough of Tower Hamlets had ignored the complaints about a campaign of violence against gays and Muslim women carried out by Muslim gangs. One Muslim man had his shoulder dislocated in an attack by a gang who objected to his breaking the Ramadam fast by having a cigarette. The police refused to investigate. To do so would have been to risk upsetting the wrong people in the “Muslim community.” For the investigating officers, it would have meant putting their careers at risk.
In the last year, police have also routinely turned a blind eye to the grooming, drugging, raping, and pimping out of girls – some as young as 11 years of age – where the perpetrators have been of Pakistani and Muslim heritage and where the victims have been white. Although according to the Daily Mail, the majority of sex offenders in Britain are lone white men, of the 56 men convicted for being involved in the gang rape and pimping of nearly exclusively white girls, 50 were Muslim. Sexual predators exist in every community, and of every race and religion, of course, but the problem of rape gangs in Britain has been exacerbated by both the authorities and successive Labour and Conservative-Liberal Democrats Governments, which have allowed such crimes not only to go unpunished, but even unchallenged.
If the concerns of Britain’s Muslims in particular are taken extremely seriously, however, the authorities and even much of the media routinely dismisses the concerns of the white working class. With the revelations about “Asian” rape gangs pimping and raping white girls between the ages of 11 and 16, many white working class people now feel they are under siege, and not afforded the protection of the law.
This is a serious and potentially dangerous situation that will not end in “community cohesion,” but in widespread unrest. The authorities, Government, and media should begin to advocate equal treatment of people under the law, regardless of their religion or community.
Earlier in the year, after the problem of “Asian” rape gangs made it briefly into the media, a young working class man attending an English Defense League [EDL] protest was interviewed by the Tehran-financed Press TV. Although the young man spoke in a thick northern English accent, and much of his statement was incoherent, he was clear about his concerns:
“You’ve got Muslamic [sic]rape gangs nowadays. You’ve got 15 year-olds getting raped and everything. It just can’t happen. That’s why all these people are here [protesting].”
Rape gangs are serious matter for those who are confronted by the reality of it in their neighborhood. Incredibly, anti-EDL activists suddenly exploded with activity, not to address the issue of the gang rape of children, but to laugh at the young man. Possibly “Muslamic rape gangs” in a northern accent sounds like “Muslamic ray guns;” within days several music videos had been published on YouTube by anti-EDL and “anti-fascist” activists, including one called Muslamic Ray Guns – The EDL Anthem that mixed pop and Islamic music together. A contributor to one thread called the interview “quite possibly the funniest thing I’ve seen in ages” and “hilarious.” Popular British comedian Russell Howard also poked fun at the young man on one of his television shows. Gang rape had never been so hilarious before it had become a concern for poor and poorly educated white working class people.
Last week a video of young, white, working class woman began circulating through the media. In the video, the woman – Emma West – is seen and heard verbally abusing fellow passengers on a train, many of whom are non-white. Ms. West’s rant is certainly offensive, and must have been upsetting to those who had to listen to it. She complained, for example, that the train – and Britain – are full with “a load of black people and a load of ****ing Polish,” and tells one woman “You ain’t British, you’re black. Ms. West was promptly arrested after the Daily Mail and Telegraph asked readers to call in with her identity – which was initially unknown. She has since been refused bail – accordingly for her own protection — she received death threats – and is now spending time in jail. Her children have also been taken into custody. .” Even though Ms. West’s diatribe is deplorable, insulting language should not be a crime.
The timing of the emergence of the video is somewhat unfortunate: Ms. West’s case is now being contrasted, by several blogs at least, to the court case a few days later of four young Muslim women,. The four women – who were drunk at the time – had repeatedly assaulted Rhea Page, 22, as she waited for a taxi with her boyfriend. Even after she had collapsed motionless on the pavement, she was met with “a flurry of kicks to the head, back, arms and legs.” As the four women attacked her, they shouted “kill the white slag.”
Those perpetrating such a vicious and racially-motivated attack should expect to receive a sentence of up to five years.
However, Judge Robert Brown, who heard the case, told the women that: “Those who knock someone to the floor and kick them in the head can expect to go inside, but I’m going to suspend the sentence.” The four were instead given a 12 month suspended sentence. Judge Brown took this decision because they were not used to being drunk, he said, because of their “religion.”
Many British people now feel that they are living in a two-tier system of double standards: one for the white working class, and one for Muslims.
Although the majority of both communities undoubtedly want nothing more than to get on with their lives, because of the behavior of Britain’s “elites” tension between the “communities” is rapidly growing. The authorities and successive Governments have created, and are still creating, a situation in which law and order will eventually break down. Britain needs to return to equality before the law, and to judging people by their actions, not by their religion or the color of their skin.
Comments are closed.
