From a chancellor to a criminal

You cannot imagine how surprised I was when I first heard about this. I first got to know Lord Watson of Invergowrie, or Mike Watson MSP, when I started working at the Al-Maktoum Institute for Arabic and Islamic Studies. Don’t get me wrong. I do not know him personally. But he was Honorary President of the Islamic Research Academy (ISRA) and the first Chancellor of Al-Maktoum Institute (a link to his brief biography is still available on the Institute's website under the biography of the current chancellor). Based on what I heard from my former boss, Lord Watson was very supportive of both ISRA and the Al-Maktoum Institute. I first discovered Lord Watson's role in setting up Al-Maktoum Institute when I wrote a brief account of the Institute's background, some of which is still being used online. It is shameful, and a pity too, that someone once involved in ISRA and the Al-Maktoum Institute ended up in jail after consuming a large amount of alcohol and starting a fire to a hotel. .