Lawyer wins $1M after bin Laden joke

BRADFORD, England, Sept. 6 (UPI) -- A lawyer suspended by a British prosecutor's office for joking she was Osama bin Laden's "friend" should receive $1.05 million, an employment panel ruled.

Halima Aziz, who worked for the Crown Prosecution Service in Bradford, England, was wrongly accused of provoking a riot, expressing anti-U.S. sentiments and associating herself with the wanted terrorist leader, the Employment Appeal Tribunal reported.

The tribunal ordered prosecutors to reinstate Aziz and to issue her a full and unequivocal apology. The prosecutorial office, which spent about $881,00 defending itself, said it would comply.

The controversy started two weeks after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, when a security guard at a low-level court commented that Aziz, a 43-year-old Muslim of Pakistani origin, was a "security risk." Aziz allegedly replied, jokingly: "I'm a friend of bin Laden's."

As news of the remark spread, reports claimed it had provoked clashes between white and Asian youths at the court building, The Daily Telegraph reported. In fact, no such disturbance occurred, the British newspaper said.

Aziz, who said she would use the award to build an orphanage in Pakistan, told Britain's Channel 4 News she would have settled for an apology at the onset. She told the Telegraph her pursuit of the case was "about getting my job back and saying what (they did) was wrong."