Category Archives: Hijab

Dutch design challenges Fifa’s football hijab ban

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A Dutch designer has created a hijab aimed at convincing the world football governing body Fifa to overturn its ban on women wearing headscarves on the pitch.

Players were prevented from wearing the hijab at top levels of the game for safety reasons, and because of rules stating that religious symbols were not allowed.

Critics say the ban promotes inequality at the highest level of the world’s most popular game.

A Facebook page called “Let Us Play“, which supports players’ rights to wear a headscarf has already generated more than 60,000 likes.

And speculation is growing that the ban could be lifted this summer if the Dutch-designed hijab is given Fifa’s seal of approval.

BBC News, 31 March 2012

Two Saudi women students verbally and racially abused in Norwich for wearing veils

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Police are investigating after two Saudi Arabian students were racially and verbally abused in Norwich for covering their faces with a veil. The married women from Bowthorpe, who are learning English at the Flying Classrooms language school in Tombland, said they are now too scared to walk in the city.

The school’s director of studies Roni Snell said she was “appalled” at the incident which happened close to Debenham’s in the city centre last month. She said: “I’m appalled and embarrassed. We have a lot of Saudi people come to study with us. The government funds their study, and a lot of students live with our 250 host families. It’s terrible for a minority of people to abuse these ladies. Norwich’s economy benefits greatly from having these students here and we should treat them as guests.”

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Football NSW backs cultural diversity, welcomes IFAB decision on hijab

Posted on by Bob Pitt

FNSW logoFootball NSW has thrown its support behind Harmony Day, a day designed to recognise Australia’s cultural diversity as well as women footballers.

Harmony Day is an initiative of the Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC). It gives people the opportunity to celebrate what makes each Australian unique and share what we have in common.

In 2012, the Harmony Day theme is sport – play, engage, inspire recognises the important role and positive influence that sport has in our multicultural nation.

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France: referee refused to officiate women’s football match because some players wore headscarves

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A referee on Sunday refused to officiate a French women’s football match, when players for one of the teams took the pitch wearing Muslim headscarves, the club involved said.

The official sent a report to the Languedoc-Roussillon league in the south of the country about the incident involving players from Petit-Bard Montpellier, who had been due to play Narbonne in the regional promotion tie.

The league must now decide whether to order the match to be replayed or to award a win to Narbonne.

The two teams played a friendly match instead, with Narbonne winning 7-6.

Football’s world governing body FIFA banned players from wearing the Islamic headscarf in 2007, claiming it is unsafe.

But football federations and even the United Nations have urged FIFA to lift the ban, maintaining that concerns about safety are baseless and that it discriminates against Muslim players, particularly when no such restrictions apply in other sports.

Iran’s women’s team last year forfeited a 2012 Olympic qualifier because players wouldn’t play without wearing hijabs.

AFP, 18 March 2012

Woman beaten and taunted as she wore hijab

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A young Muslim student was punched in the face and racially taunted as she walked down a Dublin street wearing a head scarf. A Dublin mother (23) has been convicted for assaulting the young Libyan, who was rescued by a passing motorist who stopped and helped her home.

Helen Doran’s victim was wearing a traditional Muslim hijab or head scarf. Doran followed her across a road after assaulting her and continued to shout racist insults at her.

Doran, of Castlecurragh Vale in Mulhuddart, admitted before Blanchardstown District Court to assaulting a 20-year-old Libyan student on November 2 last year. Judge Anthony Halpin sentenced Doran to three months in prison, suspended for one year.

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Kingston, Ontario: police seek woman over hijab assault

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Kingston, Ont., police are asking for the public’s help after a woman allegedly pulled on another woman’s hijab, which police are calling a hate crime assault.

Police said a woman was finishing her grocery shopping at a store around 5 p.m. ET on Jan. 28 when another customer came from behind her and pulled on her hijab. They said the suspect yanked the head covering so hard it forced the victim to bend backward. The suspect then let go and left the store without saying a word.

The female suspect is described as Caucasian, slim, about 40 to 45 years old, with long black hair and was with a male companion. Surveillance images of the suspect an associate and the victim can be viewed on the Kingston police website.

Anyone with information should contact Kingston police Const. Sean Leblanc at 613-549-4660, ext. 6250 or call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8744.

CBC News, 9 March 2012

Swiss parliament rejects SVP veil ban motion

Posted on by Bob Pitt

SVP Sicherheit schaffen posterThe group responsible for launching Switzerland’s anti-minaret initiative has called the rejection of a motion to ban burqas on public transport and in dealings with authorities “an affront”.

The National Council on Monday rejected a motion by Swiss People’s Party member Oskar Freysinger to ban the wearing of burqa in certain situations. The Council decided with a significant majority that imposing such a ban was unnecessary.

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Belgian anti-racism centre takes Dutch store HEMA to court over headscarf sacking

Posted on by Bob Pitt

HEMA

Leading Dutch retailer HEMA is being taken to court in Belgium after a female employee was fired for wearing a headscarf. The Belgian Centre for Equal Opportunities and Opposition to Racism (CGKR) is pressing charges against the firm.

HEMA dismissed the Muslim employee a year ago after customers complained about her headscarf. CGKR Director Jozef De Witte told Flemish media that his organisation made several attempts to broker a solution with the Dutch company, but without success.

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NSW identity law requires veils to be removed for JPs, lawyers

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Muslim women will be required to remove face veils as part of new identity check laws in NSW.

From April 30, anyone who asks a Justice of the Peace or lawyer to witness statutory declarations or affidavits will have to remove all head coverings including motorcycle helmets and masks to prove who they are.

NSW Attorney-General Greg Smith said JPs and lawyers will in future be required to see the face of anyone making statutory declarations or affidavits and to confirm their identity.

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