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	<title>noor-siddiqi &amp;laquo; WordPress.com Tag Feed</title>
	<link>http://en.wordpress.com/tag/noor-siddiqi/</link>
	<description>Feed of posts on WordPress.com tagged "noor-siddiqi"</description>
	<pubDate>Sun, 29 Nov 2009 09:05:17 +0000</pubDate>

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<title><![CDATA[How law and journalism works - frustration!]]></title>
<link>http://tomscotney.com/2008/03/03/how-law-and-journalism-works-frustration/</link>
<pubDate>Mon, 03 Mar 2008 17:30:40 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>tomfromthepost</dc:creator>
<guid>http://tomscotney.com/2008/03/03/how-law-and-journalism-works-frustration/</guid>
<description><![CDATA[I haven&#8217;t been very good at blogging recently, thanks to a combination of laziness and too muc]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class='snap_preview'><p>I haven&#8217;t been very good at blogging recently, thanks to a combination of laziness and too much other work to take care of. I&#8217;m also finding my <a href="http://www.twitter.com/tomscotney">twitter stream</a> has been taking care of a lot of the little things I want to let people know about.</p>
<p>But here&#8217;s something that&#8217;s moved me to write, after nearly six months of frustration. A story I&#8217;m trying to pin down that is being held back from publication by &#8211; who knows, it wouldn&#8217;t be fair of me to speculate.</p>
<p>I&#8217;m not trying to big myself up here &#8211; this isn&#8217;t the Thalidomide scandal or sexing up dodgy dossiers, but this is a tale where innocent people at their most vulnerable point have been messed around. And still the news can&#8217;t come out properly, not because of secrecy of anything malign, just because the system doesn&#8217;t work very well. It&#8217;s almost perverse.<!--more--></p>
<p>Here&#8217;s the nub of it. Two directors of the <a href="http://www.blplaw.co.uk/">Birmingham Legal Partnership</a> in Small Heath, were punished by the Law Society. The BLP largely deals with issues in Birmingham&#8217;s immigrant community. Things like marriage affairs, immigration and the like. So important things to often vulnerable people, often people who might not for example speak English or have anyone else to rely on in this country.</p>
<p>Mr Noor-ul-Aqtab Siddiqi is a Muslim spiritual leader and vice-principal at the successful Hijaz College in Warwickshire &#8211; a top Islamic college in Warwickshire. He was suspended from practice for nine months and ordered to pay a share of the costs for his trial.</p>
<p><a href="http://tomsarticles.wordpress.com/files/2008/03/gv.jpg" title="Gursharanjit Virk"></a>His co-director, Ms Gursharanjit Virk, was fined £10,000 and ordered to pay the remainder of the costs. These punishments were given out by the Law Society on October 3 last year.</p>
<p>Now why is there a problem? The thing is, due to this country&#8217;s stringent &#8211; and punitive &#8211; libel laws, one has to be very careful what one says in a <!-- D(["mb","nstory.u003cbr /u003enu003cbr /u003enNow the first thing you probably thought if you read through the littleu003cbr /u003entale above is: what did these guys actually do? And here's the answer: Iu003cbr /u003enknow but I'm not going to tell you.u003cbr /u003enu003cbr /u003enI know exactly what they did, through journalistic methods (he he) that I'mu003cbr /u003ennot going to reveal here. And it's a matter of public record that they wereu003cbr /u003enpunished for something.u003cbr /u003enu003cbr /u003enBut unfortunately, the Law Society has still not published its findingsu003cbr /u003enfrom the case – yes the one that finished more than five months ago. And sou003cbr /u003enwhile I can legally say that these people were punished, I can't officiallyu003cbr /u003ensay why or what for. Making it useless as a proper news story.u003cbr /u003enu003cbr /u003enNow they say the wheels of justice grind slow, but this is ridiculous. Au003cbr /u003envery helpful man who deals with information released from the Law Societyu003cbr /u003enagrees, but can't do anything. meanwhile, the BLP continues to operate, Msu003cbr /u003enVirk continues to work there and Mr Siddiqi gets closer to the end of hisu003cbr /u003enpractice ban without anyone in the general public being any the wiser aboutu003cbr /u003enwhat happened.u003cbr /u003enu003cbr /u003enThe Law Society is an ass. (allegedly, i didn't mean it, please don't sueu003cbr /u003enme....)u003cbr /u003enu003cbr /u003enHurry up and publish!u003cbr /u003en********************u003cbr /u003enIMPORTANT NOTICE This email (including any attachments) is meant only for the intended recipient. It may also contain confidential and privileged information. If you are not the intended recipient, any reliance on, use, disclosure, distribution or copying of this email or attachments is strictly prohibited. Please notify the sender immediately by email if you have received this message by mistake and delete the email and all attachments.u003cbr /u003enu003cbr /u003enAny views or opinions in this email are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Trinity Mirror PLC or its associated group companies (hereinafter referred to as u0026quot;TM Groupu0026quot;). TM Group accept no liability for the content of this email, or for the consequences of any actions taken on the basis of the information provided, unless that information is subsequently confirmed in writing. Although every reasonable effort is made to keep its network free from viruses, TM Group accept no liability for any virus transmitted by this email or any attachments and the recipient should use up-to-date virus checking software. Email to or from this address may be subject to interception or monitoring for operational reasons or for lawful business practices.u003cbr /u003enu003cbr /u003enTrinity Mirror PLC is the parent company of the Trinity Mirror group of companies and is registered in England No 82548, with its address at One Canada Square, Canary Wharf, London E14 5AP.u003cbr /u003en********************u003cbr /u003enu003cbr /u003enu003c/divu003e",0] );  //-->story.</p>
<p>Now the first thing you probably thought if you read through the little tale above is: what did these guys actually do? And here&#8217;s the answer: I know but I&#8217;m not going to tell you.</p>
<p>I know exactly what they did, through journalistic methods that I&#8217;m not going to go into here. And it&#8217;s a matter of public record that they were punished for something.</p>
<p>But unfortunately, the Law Society has still not published its findings from the case – yes the one that finished more than five months ago. And so while I can legally say that these people were punished, I can&#8217;t officially say why or what for. Making it useless as a proper news story.</p>
<p>Now they say the wheels of justice grind slow, but this is ridiculous. A very helpful man who deals with information released from the Law Society agrees, but can&#8217;t do anything. meanwhile, the BLP continues to operate, Ms Virk continues to work there and Mr Siddiqi gets closer to the end of his practice ban without anyone in the general public being any the wiser about what happened.</p>
<p>The Law Society is an ass. (allegedly, joking, i didn&#8217;t mean it, please don&#8217;t sue me&#8230;.)</p>
<p>Hurry up and publish!</p>
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