Last Monday, Shabana Mahmood, a British-Pakistani Kashmiri-origin Birmingham MP, was sworn in as the United Kingdom’s new Lord Chancellor at the Royal Courts of Justice in London.
Sada El Balad reported that Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood has pledged to continue defending the international rule of law and upholding human rights.
Mamood shared the news with the world on her Twitter “X” account, posting: Today, I was honored to be sworn in as Lord Chancellor, promising to defend our independent judiciary from interference and undue pressure.
She continued: I will be a champion of the Rule of Law. Nine hundred years into this ancient role, it is more vital than ever before.
She took her oath of allegiance to the Holy Quran in the presence of Lady Chief Justice Sue Carr, the President of the Supreme Court Robert Reed, and the Chancellor of the High Court Julian Flaux, and said in her speech that she was “the first Lord Chancellor to speak Urdu.
In her speech, Mahmood said the new Labor government would continue “defending the international rule of law and upholding human rights” in line with the European Convention on Human Rights, drawn up after the Second World War.
She also acknowledged the challenges faced by the justice system, adding that more should be done to provide access to justice for women and girls who are the victims of violence and abuse.
Addressing the Lord Chancellor, Carr said: There will no doubt be challenges and choices to be made today and tomorrow. That is an inevitable feature of governing. We will work with you and your ministers as you face these demands. I very much look forward to forging a stable, long-term partnership with you as Lord Chancellor within, of course, constitutional bounds in the service of justice and the achievement of justice.
Shabana grew up in Small Heath, Birmingham, and became the first Muslim woman ever appointed to the post.
