Diana Nammi: I know first hand what sharia law means for women and children

Diana Nammi, executive director of the Iranian and Kurdish Women’s Rights Organisation, told yesterday’s protest in Chancery Lane that she lived in Iran when its revolution was “hijacked by fundamentalists”:

As a woman, my testimony became worth half that of a man; as a woman, if I were to remarry I would lose my custody of the children, and as a woman under sharia inheritance law I was entitled to half that of my brothers.

She demanded

that the Law Society withdraw is guidance on sharia inheritance law because, although this guidance does not change the law, it legitimises discrimination against women and children.

She went on,

I am deeply concerned that this move has come from the professional body for lawyers of England and Wales. Lawyers should be leaders in defending human rights.