A top advocate for Muslim women’s rights has welcomed Baroness Cox’s Bill, which is designed to curb the problems caused by Sharia courts operating in England and Wales. Cassandra Balchin, co-founder and Chair of the Muslim Women’s Network-UK, said that in her work with Muslim women, she had found ‘anecdotal evidence of gender discriminatory arbitration and this included family cases’. Lady Cox’s Arbitration and Mediation Services (Equality) Bill is designed to stop a parallel legal system taking root and it also aims to ensure equality before the law for women. Cassandra Balchin has claimed for some time that Muslim women in Britain suffer from fewer rights in the UK than in many Muslim countries. She also welcomed other aspects of the Bill, chiefly the proposed provisions to penalise false claims to legal jurisdiction. ‘Unlike the arbitration tribunals, Sharia councils have no legal status’, she said. (See 26-2011 Insight Article

Pray: for the success of this Bill and that God’s righteous authority would overrule. (Is.42:21)

More: http://www.christian.org.uk/news/muslim-women%E2%80%99s-advocate-backs-bill-to-tackle-sharia/