by Lamiat Sabin

IMAMS are lobbying members of the Scottish Parliament ahead of plans to legalise assisted suicide tomorrow.

The Muslim prayer leaders have written to MSPs to urge them to vote against the measure, as they believe the process would be open to abuse, it is revealed today.

The Council of Imams Scotland says assisted suicide will put vulnerable people at risk of physical and mental coercion and would prematurely absolve doctors of duties.

Shady practitioners of suicide methods would also use “incremental extension,” so that more sick people would be “eligible” within the loose parameters, they added.

The Bill states that the law would apply to people who are terminally ill or have a “life-shortening condition,” two factors with extremely broad scope for interpretation.

The imams wrote: “Life is a divine gift and trust that cannot be terminated by any form of active or passive voluntary intervention by the patient, physician or family members.”

The patients will somehow have to be free of any mental disorders that would affect decision-making. However, no psychiatric assessments will be required, according to a reading of the Bill by the Muslim Council of Scotland.

A survey by ORB International for Christian Action Research and Education revealed that 35 per cent of Scots agree strongly with the principle of assisted suicide.

A further 38 per cent agree, 7 per cent disagree strongly and 8 per cent disagree, with 12 per cent undecided.

The Bill was introduced by MSP Margo MacDonald in 2013, five months before her death from Parkinson’s disease.