Category Archives: Hijab

Hijab-wearing woman subjected to anti-Muslim abuse on Montreal bus

Posted on by Bob Pitt

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPlJ9zyqvTI

A video that appears to show a man and a Muslim woman arguing on a Montreal city bus is the latest indication of racial tensions boiling over in Quebec.

The exclusive video was obtained by Huffington Post Quebec and is said to have happened on the afternoon of Aug. 28 on the 69 Gouin bus. In it, the man tells the woman, who is wearing a hijab, to go back to her country. The person who filmed it said the altercation lasted between five and 10 minutes, until the man got off the bus.

Similar expressions of anti-Muslim sentiment took place in other parts of Quebec around the same time.

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Judge orders lawyer to remove headscarf

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A Berlin judge has banned a Muslim lawyer from wearing a headscarf in his courtroom stating she should show religious neutrality.

The lawyer, who has not been named, was told by a judge three times that she was not allowed to wear a headscarf in court, Berlin newspaper the Morgenpost reported on Tuesday. After the first two times, she replaced her scarf with a tight-fitting hairnet, and the third time she wore a scarf tied behind her head.

Reasoning behind the request was that lawyers should present themselves as “an organ of the legal system”. State sector workers are also supposed to show religious neutrality but criticis argue the lawyer is not a state worker so should not have to show religious neutrality.

If he asks her again, she has said she will place a complaint at the Berlin constitutional court, according to the paper.

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Councillor fears Birmingham veils debate may trigger ‘Islamophobia’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Waseem ZafferA senior Birmingham councillor has spoken of his fears that debate over Muslim face veils could spark a rise in Islamophobia.

Coun Waseem Zaffer, chairman of Birmingham City Council’s social cohesion board, pictured, spoke after Home Office minister Jeremy Browne called for a national debate on whether the state should step in to stop young women having the niqab imposed upon them.

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Sun calls for restrictions on the veil

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Sun Unveiled front pageThis is the front page of today’s Sun. The accompanying editorial is behind a paywall so we reproduce it below.

In contrast to yesterday’s rant by Trevor Kavanagh, the editorial strikes what is, for the Sun, a tone of reasoned moderation.

It comes out firmly against a complete ban on wearing the veil in public, though that stance is hardly going to have any impact on the rights of Muslim women, given that there isn’t the slightest prospect of such a law being introduced in the UK for the foreseeable future.

The Sun even admits that women who wear the veil are not necessarily oppressed or acting under compulsion: “While the Taliban used the burka to suppress women in Afghanistan, those wearing them here are mainly young – and doing so by choice. They see physical modesty as key to their faith. And they already feel ‘liberated’ … from being judged on their appearance.”

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Woman says she was accosted in mall over her Islamic veil as Liberals threaten election over Quebec charter

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Montreal protest against Charter of Values
Saturday’s demonstration in Montreal against the so-called ‘Charter of Values’

The leader of the Quebec Liberals appears prepared to do everything he can to stop the Parti Quebecois government’s proposed charter of values – including fight an election over the issue. Philippe Couillard says he’s against any law that leads to employment discrimination and that Muslim women who wear a veil will always be welcome in his own party.

The PQ plan will become law “over my dead body,” Couillard said Sunday at a party meeting on women’s issues in Montreal. “The big mistake that the government is making is to make people believe that, in order to defend what is specific about Quebec, we must trample on other people’s rights.”

The PQ wants to forbid public employees from wearing religious headwear, including the veil, as part of a proposed charter announced last Tuesday.

Couillard’s remarks came after a Quebec woman of Algerian origin wearing an Islamic veil said she and her son were accosted at Place Laurier shopping centre in Quebec City two weeks ago by a woman citing the charter who demanded they change their religion and remove the headscarf.

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Muslim woman must remove niqab to give evidence during trial, judge rules

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A Muslim woman will be allowed to stand trial while wearing a full-face veil but must remove it while giving evidence, a judge has ruled.

Lawyers for the woman, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, had argued that it would breach her human rights and be counter to Britain’s tolerance of Islamic dress to remove her niqab against her wishes.

But Judge Peter Murphy, sitting at London’s Blackfriars Crown Court, said: “In general, the defendant is free to wear the niqab during trial. If the defendant gives evidence she must remove the niqab throughout her evidence. The court may use its inherent powers to do what it can to alleviate any discomfort, for example by allowing the use of screens or allowing her to give evidence by live link.”

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Trevor Kavanagh discovers feminism

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Sun niqab cartoon

Today’s Sun features a characteristic rant by Trevor Kavanagh on the topical subject of the Muslim veil. Those familiar with his style will know what to expect. Informed analysis, nuanced argument? Forget it. The ignorant bigotry of a bar-room bore – that’s more Trev’s sort of thing.

There is I suppose some entertainment value in the spectacle of a man who is so incapable of self-reflection that he loudly denounces women being treated as objects and male property … five pages on from a photo of a semi-naked woman pouting at the camera.

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Twitter backlash over Devon MP’s ‘ban Islamic veils’ comments

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Sarah Wollaston niqab tweets

A Conservative MP has sparked a Twitter backlash after she said Islamic veils should be banned in all schools – suggesting they were “deeply offensive”. Dr Sarah Wollaston, MP for Totnes in Devon, said the niqab was “making women invisible” in a string of online comments.

She wrote on Twitter: “The niqab should be banned within schools & colleges; how on earth do they promote equality when they collude with making women invisible?” Moments later, the MP posted another message saying: “A general ban on the niqab simply won’t happen in the UK but that doesn’t mean that it should be endorsed by schools or courts.”

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Lib Dem minister calls for debate on Islamic veil

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Jeremy BrowneThe government should consider banning young Muslim women from wearing the veil in public places, a Liberal Democrat minister has said. The Home Office minister, Jeremy Browne, called for a national debate on whether the state should step in to prevent young women having the veil imposed upon them. His intervention came after a row erupted over the decision by Birmingham Metropolitan college to drop a ban on the wearing of full-face veils amid public protests.

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