LONDON, Dec 21: The Archbishop of Canterbury, spiritual head of the Church of England, has indicated he will criticize the detention without trial of terrorist suspects in Britain and the US in his first Christmas sermon this year.

Speaking to the Sunday Times, Williams said holding Muslims without granting them access to lawyers or the courts was harming the efforts of moderate Islamic leaders to promote religious tolerance.

“If we want to persuade moderate Muslims to sign up to toleration and pluralism of the right kind, anything that gives the impression that we are targeting Muslims is problematic”, he said.

The Times also predicted Williams would criticize French plans to ban Muslim headscarves in schools.—dpa