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‘How do you die knowing that you’ve done nothing wrong?… I will never forgive them.’ These words were spoken by Karen Wilson, the widow of Julian Wilson who was one of the 39 sub postmasters and mistresses whose convictions of theft and false accounting were quashed by the Court of Appeal last week. This complex legal battle of over 20 years has been described as the ‘biggest miscarriage of justice in British legal history’. For the families, the human cost has been truly devastating- marriages broke down, people lost their homes, their health declined, leading to premature deaths in some cases, and reputations destroyed, with many saying publicly, ‘the suffering was hellish.’ But as yet no-one has been held accountable.

So it seemed strange to hear that those wronged have been vindicated and that justice has been done. Because it seems to me that justice is far more elusive than a verdict, or correcting a legal wrong. It’s more than simply holding a person or an institution accountable. Clearing ones name goes some way towards reparation but it doesn’t bring back the lost years, the fractured relationships and the emotional and financial pain. Maybe we can’t really get true justice because that would require restoring a former harmony. And the trauma of a real injustice is a kind of rupture of sorts, something which breaks inside of us and that can’t be restored or healed.

While we search for justice in our work and relationships, often, we compromise on living with hope. The qur’anic verses `Be persistent standing firm in justice, even if it be against yourselves or parents and relatives,’ makes justice a very high demand. The moral responsibility of speaking up, of being a witness to a wrong, requires courage and emotional strength – it’s often the hardest thing we do but like love, it’s what inspires a meaningful life. Because for me, as a Muslim, the belief in divine justice, doesn’t always provide solace. God’s justice may be real but is unknown, and relies on complete faith and abandonment to his goodness. It may be the ultimate judgement but it can be a stark contrast to the way in this life we struggle to make people and institutions accept basic accountability, to simply hold up their hands and say sorry.

Yet even while human beings struggle for truth to prevail, they musn’t live trapped in despair and resentment about what is being denied or lost. In the end, most find a way to move forward with an open heart and mind, even as they hold onto the faint possibility of true justice.

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