Judge allowed to sit on sharia court set up by Hebdo protest cleric Justice first to receive approval to rule on Islamic cases despite fears system harms women's rights
A crown court judge has been allowed to rule on sharia cases, in the first case of its kind.
District Judge Shamim Qureshi, who sits at Bristol Crown Court, received permission from the Judicial Office to double as "presiding judge" at the Muslim Arbitration Tribunal (MAT).
The MAT was established in 2007 by a hardline cleric, Sheikh Faiz-ul-Aqtab Siddiqi, who led an anti-Charlie Hebdo demonstration after 11 of the magazine's staff were murdered by terrorists.