TV lawyer: I’d defend jihadi bride
THE star defence lawyer on hit show 24 Hours in Police Custody says he would defend jihadi bride Shamima Begum if she were brought back to the UK to face charges.
Attiq Malik, a specialist in criminal law who has represented many of those arrested on the Channel 4 show, said he believed the teenager, currently detained in a Syrian refugee camp, should stand trial in Britain.
Begum left the UK for Syria in 2015 aged just 15 with two friends. There she married an Islamic State fighter and lived under the terror group’s rule for three years.
After she was found in the camp, Sajid Javid, then the home secretary, stripped her of UK citizenship on national security grounds.
Asked if Begum, now 22, should be put on trial in the UK, Mr Malik said: “With Shamima Begum, and similar cases, I think it goes back to the basic rule of law. If there’s an allegation she’s done something wrong, she should be tried and she should be punished.
“I would have no problem defending her because as far as I’m concerned when she went [to Syria], she was a child. We deal with child grooming cases all the time.”
Mr Malik, 43, became famous on the C4 show for his use of a “no comment” strategy by suspects, but also because he boasts in his native Luton that he can get anyone off.
In the first episode he successfully defended a man on conspiracy to murder charges.the case is now used in courses at top law schools. “I was humbled,” he said.
Mr Malik has become something of a crusading lawyer in Luton, where suspects often ask for him by name if arrested.
But he does not want to be known as the new Mr Loophole: “I see myself as a defender of justice, human rights and the rule of law. There should not be shortcuts with the rule of law. If you say someone’s guilty, then prove it. Show us the evidence.”
Mr Malik says he never has contempt, even for a career criminal: “When we look at hardened criminals a lot of them actually have tragic stories. There is a socioeconomic context to how they got to where they are.”
And he hopes one day there might be a movie about one of his cases.
“Films and books will always be made about criminal law, because it isn’t boring like commercial law.
“If you want passion and want to get out of bed every morning happy with what you’ve done, this is where it lies.and, yes,tom Cruise would be quite good, wouldn’t he?”
24 Hours in Police Custody, Channel 4, tomorrow, 9pm