Muslim woman who hasn't shown her face in public for 18 years ordered to remove veil to give evidence in Australian court

A strict Muslim woman who says she has never shown her face in public, has been ordered by a female judge to remove her veil when she gives evidence in an Australian court. District Court judge Shauna Deane said in the Western Australian Supreme Court today that in the interest of a fair trial against a man accused of fraud, she should not be allowed to wear a niqab, which allows only the eyes to be seen.

The 36-year-old woman, known only as Tasneem, said she was a strict Muslim and it was against her religion to show her face anywhere except in the confines of her home. The defence has argued that her whole face should be seen so the jury could decide on the veracity of her evidence.

But prosecutor Mark Ritter told the court that Tasneem had not shown her face in public in more than 18 years and would find it stressful to reveal her features to strange men. The judge agreed that the jury should have the opportunity to assess the facial expressions of the Islamic Studies teacher to help weigh up her credibility as a witness.

Her decision, she added, was not to set a precedent for other courts - it was up to them to assess similar circumstances on a case-by-case basis. Tasneem worked at a school as a tutor where the accused man, Anwar Sayed, ran the Muslim Ladies College in Perth's southern suburbs. He has been accused of stealing up to £400,000 in public funds by artificially inflating student numbers.

Outside the court Mr Sayed said he was worried about his safety and that of the witness but pointed out that he had no objection to the niqab being worn in court. 'This was a legal matter in which I had no role to play,' he said.

He claimed he had been stabbed the previous week after receiving death threats in hand-written notes and phone calls about the niqab issue. One of his lawyers, Mr Ludher Swaran, said the accused man had become 'quite isolated' within the Muslim community.

'There is quite a bit of pressure on him. He is a Muslim, the witness is a Muslim, the issue of a niqab is very sensitive among Muslims, so he would rather not have had this argument done in court.' Mr Swaran said Mr Sayed had been stabbed with a bottle in the attack. 'His shirt was torn, there were lacerations on his chest, lacerations on his forehead.' A date is to be set for the hearing.

Muslim Disneyland employee outraged after she's told she 'cannot wear her hijab to work'

A Muslim woman has filed a complaint claiming that the Disneyland restaurant where she works would not allow her to wear a hijab. Imane Boudlal, 26, claimed that when she wore the hijab to work Sunday, her supervisors told her to remove it, work where customers couldn't see her, or go home. Boudlal, who wore the scarf in observance of Ramadan, went home. When she showed up for work the next two days, she was told the same thing, she said.

'Miss Boudlal has effectively understood that they're not interested in accommodating her request either in timing or good faith,' said Ameena Qazi, an attorney from the Council on American-Islamic Relations who is consulting with Boudlal. Disneyland spokeswoman Suzi Brown said Disney has a policy not to discriminate.

The resort offered Boudlal a chance to work with the head covering away from customers while Disneyland tries to find a compromise. 'Typically, somebody in an on-stage position like hers wouldn't wear something like that, that's not part of the costume,' Brown said.

'We were trying to accommodate her with a backstage position that would allow her to work.
We gave her a couple of different options and she chose not to take those and to go home.' Boudlal, who is from Morocco, has worked at the Storyteller restaurant at the hotel for two years.

However she only realized she could wear her hijab to work after studying for her U.S. citizenship exam in June, Qazi said. She asked her supervisors if she could wear the scarf and was told they would consult with the corporate office, Qazi said.

Boudlal didn't hear anything for two months and was then told she could wear a head scarf, but it had to be designed by Disneyland's costume department to comply with the Disney look, Qazi said. She was fitted for a Disney-supplied head scarf - but Disney never told her when it would be finished.

Boudlal wore her own hijab to work for the first time Sunday. 'After these two months and this complicated process, she decided to come forward,' Qazi said. 'She really wanted to be able to wear it on Ramadan.'

Disney, Muslim worker agree on hijab substitute

ANAHEIM -- Disney is allowing a Muslim employee at its Orange County park to wear a specially designed headscarf after initially objecting to her religious head covering.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations says Monday that 22-year-old Noor Abdallah was told she couldn't wear the hijab while working as a vacation planner at a Disneyland Resort Esplanade ticket booth. She declined to take another job away from the public.

Disneyland spokeswoman Suzi Brown says the park worked with Abdallah to design a covering to match her costume and meet her religious needs. She's been wearing a blue scarf topped with a beret since early this month.

Brown says the case is separate from that of another Muslim Disney worker who refused to accept a costume headpiece and filed a federal discrimination complaint.

marni soupcoff add some bling to your hijab

People tend to go into serious policy-discussion mode when talk turns to the hijab. As a form of covering for Muslim women, the hijab is seen as an object of subjugation — a way for men to impose a sense of servitude and modesty upon their wives, sisters and daughters.

The trouble is, it’s hard to maintain a sense of either gravitas or moral outrage about the subject when you come across websites like Hijab Style, which features all manner of colorful, flashy and fashion-forward hijabs — and the usual fluffy style/fashion blather you’d find at any mainstream fashion site. There are even the requisite runway shots (attention everyone, MaxMara’s showing maxi skirts this fall!) and over-priced clothing finds (a long-sleeved tunic for $78). The only oppression of women that comes to mind is that imposed by high-end designers and fashion mag editors who make us feel that we must look like garbage if we don’t have a $20,000 clothing budget — which seems a different issue entirely.

No, one website pushing hijab bling does not put to rest all serious concerns about the treatment of women in Muslim cultures; and it’s especially hard to see the niqab — which covers a woman’s entire face with the exception of her eyes — as anything but repressive, no matter how colorful, luxurious and bejeweled it might be.

Still, Hijab Style is a useful reminder that you can’t necessarily judge a woman’s autonomy by her head covering. Clearly, for at least a small number of Muslim women (Hijab Style gets about 2,500 hits a day), the hijab is a form of self-expression and showing off one’s chicness by staying current.

One Hijab Style reader writes, “My style is classic with some trendy items. I always buy trendy items in an accent colour or in a basic neutral, to give it a long life even after the trend is dead and gone. I also like to set trends myself, or at least try to.”

She sounds no more subjugated or dominated than the average woman with a subscription to In Style magazine.

Something to keep in mind the next time a government proposes a hijab ban in public buildings in the name of protecting women.

Who’s got a problem with hijab?

A reader on Muslimette.com left an interesting comment today, which reads: “You’re right – non-muslims don’t have much problem with the hijab. It’s muslim girls and women who are ‘ashamed’ of it in a way. To some people, wearing a hijab is akin to slumming it, like not living up to what life is offering. But we have to face it – this life here is just a transition spot for the true believing Muslim. Sad and such a shame they cannot realize that…” -Z.

I have been wearing hijab since I was about 12 or 13 years-old and I can honestly say that I’ve heard more negative comments about it from Muslim women than from non-Muslims. None of these women actually wore the hijab and their reasons for not doing so range from “the hijab makes my hair fall out” to “I will start wearing hijabs once I’m out of college”… I wouldn’t say that I’ve heard a lot of these comments, but I’ve heard enough of them. On the other hand, I’ve only heard one or two negative comments about hijab from non-Muslims in my entire life (not counting the stupid things that a few people have said in my blog comments).

What about you? Do you agree or disagree with Z’s statement? Have you encountered more Muslim women who dislike the hijab or more non-Muslims who have a problem with it? If possible, please let us know what country you live in so that we can get a feel for what it’s like in different parts of the world.