Category Archives: Hijab

Municipal deputy urges Moscow ban on hijab

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Municipal deputy of the Yakimanka District Dmitry Zakharov is going to address Moscow mayor Sergey Sobyanin with a request to ban wearing hijab in city. The author of the initiative answers the questions.

“I believe it is not right for any religious formation to demand special attitude. In fact, hijab is outer manifestation of such demand. It’s no good, I think we need to ban wearing it in public places: in the streets, in state and educational establishments,” Zakharov said in his interview published by the Metro daily.

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Tory minister describes veil-wearing women as being ‘in a kind of bag’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Kenneth Clarke at state opening of parliament
The man who thinks the niqab is ‘a most peculiar costume for people to adopt in the 21st century’

Women should not be allowed to wear a veil while giving evidence in court, cabinet minister and former justice secretary Kenneth Clarke has said.

He insisted his comments “had no trace of Islamophobia” but said it was important for the court to be able to see a witness’s body language.

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Florida woman says man tried to run her off road because of headscarf

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Rose road rage victimPOINCIANA, Fla. — Florida deputies are working to track down a driver who tried to run a woman and her two young children off the road in broad daylight.

Rose, who only wanted to be identified by her first name, said the man tried to run her off the road in Poinciana, Fla., because of her hijab, a headscarf worn by Muslim women.

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Lawyer challenges French veil ban, Cassandra Bélin’s trial postponed

Posted on by Bob Pitt

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Cassandra Bélin’s husband Michaël Khiri with her lawyer Philippe Bataille

A French lawyer has launched a new constitutional challenge to France’s burka ban as part of the defence of a woman whose arrest for wearing Islamic face-covering sparked riots in the French town of Trappes earlier this year. A court in Versailles postponed the trial of 20-year-old Cassandra Bélin until 11 December in order to consider her defence team’s claim the charges against her are unconstitutional.

Bélin, who was not present at the opening day of the trial, was facing trial for defying the ban and insulting a police officer. She denies police claims that she told them, “Allah will exterminate you!” The defence has requested a special procedure by which the country’s Constitutional Council would review a law that has already passed.

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Muslims real target of charter, law prof. says

Posted on by Bob Pitt

MONTREAL — Muslims are the real target of the proposed charter of Quebec values, while kippot and turbans are “collateral damage” in the provincial government’s plan to eliminate religious symbols from the public service, a McGill University law professor says.

Speaking Oct. 20 at a panel discussion on the issue at Temple Emanu-El-Beth Sholom, Daniel Weinstock said Islamophobia is “the elephant in the room” in the push to secularize Quebec.

“We are not at the centre [of this debate], but as Jews, according to our ethical tradition, we have to stand up resolutely for our Muslim brothers and sisters,” Weinstock said, receiving widespread applause.

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55% of public favour complete ban on niqab, poll finds

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Channe 4 ComRes niqab poll

British people are broadly opposed to the niqab – the full-face veil which shows only the wearer’s eyes – being worn in any public place, exclusive research for Channel 4 News reveals.

An exclusive ComRes poll for Channel 4 News showed that more than half of the public believe women should not be allowed to wear the niqab in public – with 55 per cent backing an outright ban similar to the one in France.

An even greater proportion, 81 per cent, say they support a ban on wearing the niqab in certain public places, such as schools, courts or hospitals.

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