Category Archives: Hijab

Muslim pupil given detention for resisting harassment over hijab

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Grahamsville, New York — The insults first came in fifth grade, pursuing Xelina Encarnacion in hallways, classrooms and the school bus that carried her between her Loch Sheldrake home and Tri-Valley Elementary School.

The taunts of “bomb baby,” “terrorist” and “towel head” followed her into the seventh grade at Tri-Valley Secondary School as she began wearing a hijab, a traditional head covering that Muslim women begin wearing at puberty.

When a boy pulled her hijab Wednesday, Xelina retaliated, landing in detention after chasing him down and hitting him. “I felt violated,” she said. “I felt like I didn’t deserve it, because I was protecting myself.”

Times Herald-Record, 24 April 2010

Auburn man sentenced in attack of Muslim woman, baby

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Eric GarnerSEATTLE — An Auburn man found guilty of threatening a local Muslim woman and her baby for their race and religion is headed to prison.

A judge sentenced Eric Lee Garner to 17 months in prison on Friday, handing down the maximum sentence allowed for an incident that took place at the Seattle Indian Health Board in July 2009.

Investigators said 24-year-old Gardner, wielding a knife, made derogatory comments to a young mother and her 6-month-old baby, and threatened to cut them.

Garner told the woman, “You Muslim people scare people when you wear that clothing,” and “When I see a black woman, it makes me want to throw up,” according to the statement of probable cause.

The alarmed mother said she asked him what was wrong, to which he responded, “I’m talking to you (expletive), Muslim people,” the statement said.

When the woman said, “What I wear does not make me a bad person,” Garner told her, “You scare people,” and cursed at her, the woman told detectives.

The woman tried to move away from the aggressive man, but he followed her. He then pulled out a sheath knife with an 8- to 10-inch blade, held it in front of her face and said, “I’m going to cut you and your baby with this knife,” the statement said.

Garner slammed the knife on the counter, struggling to get it out of the sheath, detectives said. A staff member of the health clinic reached over and took the knife away from the man.

“I just heard a big slam on the counter and I looked over and it was a knife,” said employee Alissa Stewart. “My first instinct was to grab it and get it out of reach.” Garner then lunged over the counter, grabbed the knife out of Stewart’s hand and fled, investigators said.

Another clinic employee who had dealt with the boisterous man earlier in the day identified him as Garner.

Police found Garner walking in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood the following night. They said Garner, who was carrying a knife, admitted he had “pulled a knife on a Muslim woman earlier in the day because he was ‘doing his part to defend America,'” according to the statement.

In March Gardner pleaded guilty to charges of malicious harassment and second-degree assault. He has a long criminal history with prior convictions for assault and felony harassment.

KOMO News, 23 April 2010

French poll: 33% back complete ban on veil, and further 31% favour restrictions

Posted on by Bob Pitt

France veilTwo-thirds of French people want a law limiting the use of face-covering Islamic veils such as the niqab and the burqa, with only a minority backing the government’s plan for a complete ban, a poll showed Saturday.

The TNS Sofres/Logica poll, which was carried out on Thursday and Friday, showed that 33 percent of French people want a complete ban, while a further 31 percent want a more narrow law applying only to certain public spaces.

The results of the survey of 950 people were roughly the same for men and women. Support for some kind of legal restriction on the full veil cut across age groups, professions and political affiliation, though it was stronger among right-wing voters – more than 80 percent of them favoured a law.

Reuters, 24 April 2010

French police fine Muslim driver for wearing veil

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A French Muslim woman has been fined for wearing a full-face veil while driving a car. Police in the western city of Nantes said the veil – which showed only her eyes – restricted her vision and could have caused an accident. The woman’s lawyer says they will appeal against the decision, which he described as a breach of human rights.

After stopping the 31-year-old woman – who has not been named – police asked her to raise her veil to confirm her identity, which she did. They then fined her 22 euros ($29; £19), saying her clothing posed a “safety risk”.

“This fine is not justified on road safety grounds and constitutes a breach of human and women’s rights,” her lawyer, Jean-Michel Pollono, told AFP news agency. He said the woman’s field of vision was not obstructed and added that a veil was no different from a motorcycle helmet in terms of hindrance to vision. He said he had formally complained to the state prosecutor. “The ball is clearly in the authorities’ court,” he said. “Currently no law forbids the wearing of the niqab.”

BBC News, 23 April 2010

Muslim girl’s headscarf divides Spain

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Pressure was mounting in Spain on Friday to resolve the case of a Muslim girl who was expelled from school because she started wearing the Islamic headscarf in class.

Najwa Malha, 16, a Spaniard of Moroccan origin, would not accept to go to another school which admits headscarves, her father Mohammed Malha told the daily El Pais. The governing board of the school in Pozuelo de Alarcon near Madrid recently confirmed the school’s earlier decision not to admit Najwa to class unless she took her scarf off.

Three of Najwa’s classmates, who were also Muslims, started wearing the hijab to show their solidarity with her. But the girls have now removed the scarves for fear of being attacked, after anti-Islamic stickers appeared and were removed from the school gates, reports said.

An internet support forum for Najwa has collected hundreds of signatures while the human rights group Amnesty International also sided with her. Islamic associations have called protests and pledged to take the case to courts.

Najwa’s case has divided politicians, with the governing Socialists generally stressing the need for tolerance and dialogue, while some politicians in the ranks of the opposition conservatives described the hijab as a sign of discrimination against women. Children’s right to education was more important than anything else, Education Minister Angel Gabilondo said, describing the hijab as a “sign of a particular identity which does not attack others.”

Earth Times, 23 April 2010

Amnesty: Belgium full face veil ban would breach international law

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Amnesty International has urged the Belgian Parliament not to pass a draft law which would prohibit the wearing of full face veils anywhere in public as the country’s Chamber of Deputies prepares to vote on the issue on 22 April 2010.

“A general ban on the wearing of full face veils would violate the rights to freedom of expression and religion of those women who choose to express their identity or beliefs in this way,” said Claudio Cordone, Amnesty International’s Interim Secretary General.

Amnesty International news release, 22 April 2010

Belgium to debate ban on Islamic veils

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Belgium lawmakers are due to debate legislation that would ban full-face Islamic veils in public. If, as expected, they approve the draft law, Belgium would become the first European country to ban the wearing of the burka or niqab in public places. It comes a day after France announced its own plans to ban the garments.

However, Thursday afternoon’s vote is under threat from a political crisis that could see the collapse of the Belgian government. A Dutch-speaking party is threatening imminent resignation from the ruling coalition unless action is taken to resolve a long-standing dispute about power-sharing.

BBC News, 22 April 2010

Update:  See “Belgian government collapses after party quits coalition”, Guardian, 22 April 2010

Further update:  See Intissar Kherigi, “A Belgian face-veil ban would be senseless”, Comment is Free, 22 April 2010

Sarkozy to submit bill banning Islamic face veils

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Sarkozy2French President Nicolas Sarkozy has ordered legislation that would ban women from wearing Islamic veils that fully cover the face and body in public places, the government said Wednesday.

It is Sarkozy’s first political action toward an outright ban, though he has repeatedly said such outfits oppress women and are not welcome in France, home to a firmly secular government.

Government spokesman Luc Chatel said after a Cabinet meeting Wednesday that the president decided the government should submit a bill to parliament in May on an overall ban on such veils “in all public places.”

That ups the stakes in Sarkozy’s push against veils such as the burqa and niqab and chador. Some in his own party have bristled at a full-out ban, and France’s highest administrative body has questioned whether it would be constitutional.

Associated Press, 21 April 2010

Montreal protest against ban on veil

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Bill 94 protestAbout 120 people turned up Saturday afternoon outside Montreal City Hall to express their opposition to Bill 94, saying the legislation reflects cultural xenophobia and has no place in Quebec society.

The legislation, which would predominantly affect women who wear the Islamic niqab or burka, would require public employees, education and health workers to have their faces uncovered at all times.

The law would also apply to anyone seeking government services. Saturday’s protest, organized by a group calling itself simply “Kill Bill 94,” lasted for about two hours and drew representatives from the South Asian Women’s Association, Jewish organizations and Montreal’s Anglican diocese.

Montreal Gazette, 17 April 2010

See also CTV News, 17 April 2010 and the Examiner, 18 April 2010