Category Archives: Hijab

Islamic scarfs face ban in Australia

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The Howard Government is considering banning Islamic scarfs at Australian airports, senior government sources have revealed. The security measure would see even the most inoffensive Muslim scarf, the hijab, which covers the hair and neck, banned, along with several other types.

Security officials were especially concerned by two other types of scarf, the niqab and burka. The niqab covers the face, but leaves the eyes exposed, while the burka covers the entire face, with only a mesh screen for the eyes.

The scarf policy is under active consideration in Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews’ office, which is consulting airport security officials over the policy.

Herald Sun, 14 October 2007

Update:  The Sydney Morning Herald quotes a spokeswoman for Andrews as saying: “I can say that the minister’s office is absolutely not considering any such plan.”

‘Burqa’ allowed in Italy

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Rome, October 9 – The decision by a northern Italian city official to allow Muslim women to wear the burqa has sparked consternation in the country, even though at least one minister supported the move. “We have already said several times, and we reiterate it now, that the use of the burqa is unacceptable,” said a spokesman for Interior Minister Giulio Amato.

A 1975 law, introduced amid concern over homegrown terrorism in the country’s cities, forbids Italians from appearing in public wearing anything which covers their faces. Apart from this law, which appears to apply to the burqa, many politicians on both sides of parliament said the garment was also a humiliating imposition. “I am indignant. Covering up women’s faces is an offence to their dignity,” said Equal Opportunities Minister Barbara Pollastrini.

Vittorio Capocelli, the prefect of Treviso in the Veneto region, decided on October 5 that it was acceptable for Muslim women in the city to wear the garment as long as they were ready to remove it and identify themselves to police when required. A day later Family Minister Rosy Bindi, a prominent Catholic politician, indicated her agreement, saying that it was right to be “respectful of the veil” as long as women wore it of their own free will.

The apparent green light for the burqa drew a stinging editorial from Egyptian-born writer and journalist Magdi Allam in Tuesday’s edition of Corriere della Sera, Italy’s best-selling daily. “If the prefect’s decision sets a legal and administrative precedent on a national level, Islamic women could soon be going to school completely covered, be getting hired in workplaces and circulating freely all over Italy,” he wrote.

Muslim News, 10 October 2007

Jon Gaunt rallies to the defence of ‘our tolerant society’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Yes, I know. It’s a bit like the Ku Klux Klan speaking out in support of equality.

Fanatical docs make me sick

By Jon Gaunt

Sun, 9 October 2007

LAST week Muslim zealots were refusing to sell alcohol in Sainsbury’s but this week the lunatics have really taken over the asylum. We now learn that some Muslim trainee doctors are refusing to treat people with drink or sexual problems.

These pious prats won’t be allowed to qualify as doctors if they refuse these aspects of their training, so instead of dithering and wasting our taxes on any more education for these fanatics we should simply tell them to fit in or ship out.

We should also not fall into the trap of thinking this is just an isolated incident, especially after the capitulation of Sainsbury’s over alcohol and now the news that Boots are allowing Muslim pharmacists the right to refuse to dispense the morning-after pill.

All of these zealots think they can get away with these outrages because we have singularly failed to tell people who want to live in this great country that they have to fit in with our way of life.

Even after 7/7 this Government still has the backbone of a blancmange when it comes to dealing with Muslims. Forget concerns about Islamophobia – we should be more concerned with how Muslims seem to be treated with kid gloves.

While the rest of the majority population are told to understand and tolerate their religion, certain members of the Muslim community seem to have carte blanche to walk all over our customs and traditions.

This week the amoebas in Government failed to ban outright the full veil in classrooms, leaving the decision with individual head teachers rather than laying down the law as they have done in France.

Some say we should ban all religious symbols in school but I disagree. This is a Christian country and 72 per cent of us in the last census professed to being Christian and there is a world of difference between a crucifix, a turban, a skullcap and the veil.

This face covering is not a religious symbol but is clearly a sign of repression and oppression. A woman can look modest without resorting to looking like a Dalek and almost becoming invisible in our modern liberal, tolerant society.

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‘Army forks out for 95 hijabs’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“Politically correct MoD officials are to issue free hijabs to female Muslim troops – while front line soldiers are having to buy their own kit. Under new service dress regulations, six of the Islamic hijabs will be given to each Muslim servicewoman wanting them. But it has sparked fury amid an MoD cash crisis. Squaddies also claim the hand-out is unfair as they pay out of their own pockets to observe strict military dress rules.”

Sun, 8 October 2007

Now Italy considers banning the veil

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Italy today became the latest European government to announce it was considering introducing a law which would make wearing a burqa illegal. MPs from the anti-immigration Northern League party, a member of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s ruling right wing coalition, have presented the proposal in a bill. It comes just weeks after France also said that it was considering making the wearing of burqas by Muslim women illegal.

Daily Mail, 7 October 2009

Veil not banned, Mail not happy

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Veils will not be banned in schools, ministers have decided. Guidelines issued by the Government yesterday state that heads “may be justified” in outlawing religious dress that covers pupils’ faces. But ministers stopped short of issuing an outright ban on full-face Islamic veils, saying it was up to schools to decide uniform policy for themselves.

Yesterday’s updated guidance follows the case of a 12-year-old girl whose campaign to be allowed to wear the niqab at her Buckinghamshire school was rejected by the Law Lords after a lengthy appeal process.

A draft version of the new rules published in March suggested that schools would be allowed to outlaw certain religious dress in order to ensure proper learning, prevent bullying and maintain security on school grounds. But an extra paragraph inserted in the revised version makes it clear there is no automatic right to ban veils. It states that the judgment against the 12-year-old girl and two other similar cases do not imply schools can impose a blanket ban.

Tory MP Paul Goodman, whose Wycombe constituency includes the school challenged in court over its policy on the niqab, said the guidance had been weakened by the Human Rights Act, which provides for “the right to education and to manifest religious beliefs”.

Daily Mail, 5 October 2007

Driver attempts to run woman over

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A man’s attempt to run a Muslim woman over with his car while she waited for a bus in Southampton was racially motivated, police have said. The 30-year-old woman, wearing a hijab, was targeted at Lordshill Centre on August 23.

The man drove up next to her in a red car and verbally abused her, before trying to mount the kerb in his car. He then drove off towards a nearby roundabout, before driving back towards the woman, who ran off. “The woman, from Southampton, ran into a nearby library to escape further abuse, she was uninjured, but was left shaken by the incident,” a police spokeswoman told The Muslim News.

Police want to speak to a woman who was at the bus stop during the incident and the driver of another car who beeped his horn when the vehicle attempted to drive onto the pavement. The man has been described as white, middle-aged, of medium build, with short brown hair and a round face. He wore a yellow top. Officers said part of the registration number of the car he was driving was M214.

A spokesman for the Muslim Council of Southampton told The Muslim News, “It’s unfortunate that the lady had to go through that ordeal, we appeal to the Southampton community to help the police catch the perpetrator. We should not tolerate any forms of intimidation to any section of society.”

The Muslim News, 28 September 2007

See also BBC News, 31 August 2007

Quebec women’s council calls for hjab ban

Posted on by Bob Pitt

MONTREAL — The Quebec government should ban civil servants from wearing visible religious symbols at work to promote the province’s status as a secular society, the Quebec Council on the Status of Women says. That means female Muslim teachers should not be allowed to wear a hijab in public schools, said the council’s president, Christiane Pelchat. “Teachers are role models and they should be promoting equality between men and women,” Ms. Pelchat said.

She used the following example to show how reasonable accommodation would impinge upon the right to equality between the sexes. A teacher in a public elementary school converts to the Muslim faith and wishes to wear the niqab, the veil that covers her face in its entirety except for the eyes. But the council says the government should not let her display the religious symbol.

“The niqab sends a message of the submission of a woman, which should not be conveyed to young children as part of a secular education which is required to promote equality between men and women,” the council said it a statement released yesterday. The council has determined that the niqab is a religious sign that is discriminatory towards women, Ms. Pelchat said. “It is only women who are covered,” she said. “Are there Muslim men who are covered up?”

The council is a 20-member body that advises the government on issues relating to women.

Canada.com, 27 September 2007

Muslim slurs man faces jail

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A Midland accountant who accused a teenage Muslim student in full traditional dress of being a terrorist has been warned he faces a prison sentence. Brian Frisby, described as a pillar of the community, also told the 17-year-old girl she should “go home” and that she should dress like an English woman, a jury heard.

Frisby (59) behaved “wholly inappropriately” when he saw the science student in the street and he carried out a course of conduct based on her attire and religion, the jury at Wolverhampton Crown Court was told.

Frisby, of Oak Crescent, Tividale, denied religiously aggravated harrassment but was found guilty at the end a two day trial. The five-man, seven-woman jury, retired for just under three hours before returning a unanimous verdict.

Recorder Peter Carr ruled that, even having regard for his age and good character, it was a serious offence and time behind bars had to be considered. He remanded Frisby on bail until next month for a pre-sentence report.

Mr John Evans, prosecuting, told Wolverhampton Crown Court, Frisby had clearly displayed prejudice towards the young student who was now 18, and his behaviour was “bullying and cowardly”.

Birmingham Mail, 25 September 2007