The Muslim Jewish Forum of Greater Manchester
Established to develop the cultural and social ties between the Muslim and Jewish communities of Greater Manchester

"Loose Lawyers" panel event on racial and religious hatred law

15 October 2015

On 15 October 2015, we held our nineth lawyers event at Kings Chambers in Manchester city centre. The event was sponsored by Linder Myers Solicitors. There were over thirty attendees at this "Loose Lawyers" panel event and the question put to the panel was "Is the current UK legislation adequate to deal with the current rise in hate crimes directed at both Muslims and Jewish people?"

The panel consisted of:

• Jewish barrister, Jeremy Dable
• Jewish solicitor Robert Festenstein
• Muslim barrister Ahmed Nadim
• Muslim Labour politician and former criminal law barrister Yasmin Qureshi, MP for Bolton South East.
• The chair of the panel was the MJF’s Co-Chair Heather Fletcher who is a solicitor and law costs draftsman.

All four lawyers on the panel gave eloquent and thought provoking replies and there was a lively Q&A session. A recurring theme was whether society needs to change in order to change the law or whether the law needs to change in order to change society.

Ahmed Nadim stated "Until we energise the public to condemn the behaviour of bigotry, the criminal law will remain powerless."

Robert Festenstein said "Things have to be changed by society. There is no point in bringing laws into force if people are not going to take notice of them."

Jeremy Dable stated “A distinction needs to be made between whether someone is criticising the idea or the person. Thankfully, there is more social education in schools now and children educate their parents these days."

Yasmin Qureshi MP said "We need to educate people that there is more that unites us than divides us. Also the media need to take a more responsible role in ensuring that they discourage any form of racial hatred."

Jackie Harrison, Executive Committee member of the Forum welcomed the guests and Cllr Rabnawaz Akbar, also a Forum Executive committee member gave the vote of thanks.

In the photograph below Ahmed Nadim is speaking and to his right successively are Jeremy Dable, Heather Fletcher, Robert Festenstein and Yasmin Qureshi.

The Muslim Jewish Forum of Greater Manchester
Established to develop the cultural and social ties between the Muslim and Jewish Communities of Greater Manchester