TIMES ONLINE: Cherie Blair has been reported to the office overseeing judges' behaviour for apparently sentencing a man convicted of assault more leniently because he was religious.
The National Secular Society wrote to the Judicial Complaints Office on Friday complaining that Mrs Blair — a prominent Roman Catholic — suspended the six-month prison sentence passed on Shamso Miah, a Muslim who broke a stranger's jaw in row over a bank queue, on the ground that he was devout.
"We think this is discriminatory and unjust and we wish to make a formal complaint about it," wrote Terry Sanderson, the president of the NSS.
Today Mr Sanderson told The Times that the complaints office had acknowledged his letter and confirmed that it was going to investigate the case.
"We feel it's wrong that someone so high profile as Mrs Blair — and she is very high profile as a Catholic — should make such remarks in court," he explained.
"The man was incredibly violent and broke someone's jaw for no apparent reason. She said that he would have got a six-month sentence but was suspending it because he was a religious man and would know he was doing wrong, which we feel implies that a non-religious person wouldn't know it was wrong. >>> Jenny Booth | Thursday, January 04, 2010
