Lawyer fights censure over radio phone-in

A LAWYER claims his human rights were breached when he was disciplined over a verbal clash with a caller on a radio phone-in programme.

Aamer Anwar, who branded the caller a "bigot", was carpeted by the Law Society of Scotland and had a formal reprimand put on his record.

But he says he was not given a fair hearing by the society and has started judicial review proceedings in the Court of Session to have the decision set aside.

Mr Anwar was invited to take part in a discussion on BBC Radio Five Live in July last year about the government's proposals for anti-terrorist legislation.

During the programme, a caller named Jimmy said police in London who shot Jean Charles de Menezes in the mistaken belief he was a suicide bomber had done a good job and should be thanked. He also said non- nationals should be arrested and put to work breaking rocks until they could prove that their presence in the country was legal.

Mr Anwar says he interjected after the "outrageous" comments and referred to the caller as a bigot. He suggested that if seven unidentified men in jeans and T-shirts had shouted at Jimmy to stop, he probably would have run as well.

Jimmy responded that as a truck driver, he was pulled up regularly by the police and had never been in danger of being shot. Mr Anwar replied: "Maybe you should."

According to Mr Anwar, his reply had been designed to suggest that, had the caller had the experience of being wrongly accused or threatened by police officers, he might understand why others would argue there was a need to control police activity.

However, Mr Anwar says that a Law Society committee concluded that he had intended to suggest that the caller should in fact be shot.

The committee found that Mr Anwar's conduct had been unsatisfactory, and ordered that the finding be noted on his record for five years.

It is alleged in the judicial review case that the Law Society acted contrary to natural justice and in breach of the European Convention on Human Rights. The society had been both the accuser and the judge against Mr Anwar, he argues.

A date for a full hearing in the case has yet to be fixed.