Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill

Lord Leong Excerpts

Friday 20th March 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Nicholson of Winterbourne (Con)]

My Lords, I follow the noble Baroness, Lady O’Loan, with reference to our shared amendment, Amendment 174A. I apologise for not raising this in my previous discourse, but the differences are so acute that I just did not feel it right to share them in the same comment, and I believe the Companion allows me to speak twice in Committee.

I declare an interest in this amendment’s matters as I have worked with enclosed communities for most of my life. My most recent responsibilities have been with the AMAR International Charitable Foundation, which I founded about 35 years ago. We have worked consistently with the enforced enclosed community of the Marsh Arabs and the enclosed communities of the Yazidis—the genocide victims—and others, covering different parts of the globe. I work particularly closely with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints—the Mormons, as they were known—and with other enclosed communities.

My concern today is for Muslim women. We have two minority faiths in the United Kingdom where women are deemed to be secondary to men. As the noble and learned Lord will realise, I know very well that women are actually superior to men, not inferior. I am not quite sure whether I will cause a dispute between the right reverend Prelates the Bishop of Newcastle and the Bishop of Southwark on this, but either way I welcome and endorse what they said about minority faith communities in the United Kingdom.

I am speaking particularly strongly about Sunni women who do not speak English. I am sorry to say that, because we in the United Kingdom have made so little effort to help these women become numerate and literate in the language of this country, there are at least a quarter of a million of them—there may be more. Those women, some of the men in their family and even those running the religious side of their lives may believe that verse 74 of the Holy Koran—which places women subservient to men in all cases and puts them at risk of physical violence if they disobey—is the law here. They do not speak English and they do not know our law. Many of them are functionally illiterate and non-numeric in the language of the countries from which they came. In some of those countries, in particular Afghanistan, women do not legally exist at all. The World Health Organization tells me that Afghanistan is the only nation in the world of which this has ever been known.

If a woman comes here from a country such as that—a unique country, in that women do not exist—they will not understand that they are actually a full person here, that they have rights and that they are on the same level as everyone else. It does not matter whether they have money or who they are; if they are a citizen of the United Kingdom, a visitor or even an illegal immigrant, they still have that right as a woman and a citizen.

My colleague on the Cross Benches referred to children in this context. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child was drafted here in this Chamber by our former Member Baroness Faithfull, who was a great lady. The convention, on which I have worked all my life, is very clear about the rights of children, but these rights will not exist in the minds of these women because they do not know about it. That is our fault and our failing as a nation. We have made no effort: we have not helped them learn English, to get out, or to understand their rights here. This is coming not just from Afghanistan but from Sistan and Baluchestan, where it is believed that a woman must drape herself completely. That is not in the Holy Koran at all; there is nothing like that in the Koran.

I hope that all Members of your Lordships’ House have read the Koran. It is an interesting, rich and full document—I have read it a number of times, and it is important that we understand it. It does not say what some of its practitioners claim or offer.

I also suggest clearly that UK law predominates. These women and the men who work with them—who are their families, maybe even groomers—believe that they are doing the right thing. The new law in Iraq, a country I know intimately, declares that girls of nine may be married to men of any age. A huge number of boat people come from Iraq. It is well organised by northern Iraqis in Iraqi Kurdistan who have a wonderful business going, bringing illegal immigrants by boats across the channel to Britain. If you come from Iraq, you come with that thinking and that background. Unless you are taught British law, you will not have any understanding of what you are.

This abuts on our discussion if you are nearly dying—or possibly you are not, but your family wants to get rid of you. It is worth remembering that 11% of all deaths, which is the highest number, are those who have Alzheimer’s or similar diseases. Someone could say: “Mum’s a bit of a burden; granny’s even worse. Aunt can go as well. What about cousin? What about my sister? I don’t actually like her. They will do as they are told”. This will, in a true sense, crucify them. As my noble colleague just said, certainly in Islam, suicide is outside, so they will be declaring themselves to be outside their own faith. Do we expect them to understand enough to do that? I do not think so.

My suggestion to the noble and learned Lord, Lord Falconer, is that perhaps he would grant me a meeting. Since this is not a government Bill, I have taken this round the various religious centres for Islam in London. Nobody has consulted them, and they really like to be consulted because suicide is against Islam. The question they ask me is, “Why haven’t the Government been to see us about this?” I put this forward.

[Lord in Waiting/Government Whip (Lord Leong) (Lab)]

May I ask the noble Baroness to speak to the amendment?

[Baroness Nicholson of Winterbourne (Con)]

This Private Member’s Bill has not been discussed with the mosques in London, nor anywhere else. My suggestions are that we have a meeting, that I bring suitable people with me and that we start to open this up. It is against the faith to commit suicide, so this is very important.