“Sharia law is operating in secret in many British towns and cities, the Daily Express can reveal. Muslim communities are being ruled with a rod of iron in clear defiance of the British legal system. Panels of Islamic scholars sit in mosques, converted living rooms and even a former pub to issue fatwas, or rulings.

“The revelation that they have decided thousands of cases over the last 25 years comes after the Archbishop of Canterbury provoked condemnation by calling for an ‘accommodation’ with the Islamic legal code. Dr Rowan Williams said parts of civil law could be dealt with under the sharia system – but some communities have already gone much further. The Daily Express has uncovered a catalogue of evidence that sharia courts are acting independently of British law.”

Daily Express, 9 February 2008

And over at the Daily Mail Amanda Platell writes: ” So has old Wispy Beard finally lost his marbles? Adopt Sharia law that so vilely oppresses women, subverting, in the process, hundreds of years of British justice? Yes, it’s nonsense. And dangerous nonsense, too. But by highlighting this issue, Dr Rowan Williams may have done us all a service by jolting us into realising just how far Britain has already gone towards integrating Sharia law. Did you realise, before his speech on Thursday, that Sharia courts already exist in this country to decide issues as fundamental to our society as divorce? … I certainly didn’t. So, ironically, perhaps Dr Williams should be applauded for highlighting this creeping Islamisation of parts of Britain.”

Update:  At the Independent on Sunday, Joan Smith weighs in with “British women are already suffering from Islamic law“.