Category Archives: Women

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

Robert Spencer and Phyllis Chesler join forces

Posted on by Bob Pitt

De SteenRobert Spencer of Jihad Watch and US feminist Phyllis Chesler have co-authored a pamphlet, The Violent Oppression of Women in Islam, as their contribution to “Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week“.

What with Julie Bindel’s Sunday Times article endorsing fascist myths about “Asian grooming”, an Islamophobic alliance between the racist Right and a warped version of feminism would appear to be a theme of anti-Muslim bigotry this week.

See Front Page Magazine, 5 October 2007

Download the pamphlet (pdf) here.

The cover of the pamphlet reproduces the notorious illustration which, as Spencer and Chesler are forced to admit in their article, also featured in the Front Page Magazine press release announcing Islamo-Fascist Awareness Week. It is in fact fictional, having been taken from a 1944 Dutch film called De Steen. Yet the press release assured readers: “The photo accompanying this article, which shows a teenage girl buried before being stoned to death for alleged sexual offenses, will serve as the poster for the protest Week. The stoning took place in Iran.”

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

Canada’s chief electoral officer stands firm on veiled voters

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Canada’s chief electoral officer said he will not use his discretionary powers to change the rules and force veiled women to show their faces in upcoming elections, saying it’s not his job to “juggle” fundamental rights. Marc Mayrand made the comments as he was questioned by members of Parliament before the procedure and house affairs committee Thursday morning.

Mayrand said those powers are only to be used in exceptional circumstances, and he does not consider veiled voting an exceptional circumstance. Asked whether he would use those powers if directed to do so by the committee, Mayrand said he wouldn’t, because it would require him to “offend the act and not uphold the law.”

CBC News, 13 September 2007

Three cheers for Canada’s chief electoral officer

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Don Macpherson applauds the decision by Marc Mayrand, Canada’s chief electoral officer, to uphold the legal right of veiled Muslim women to vote in next week’s federal by-elections in Quebec, and condemns Mayrand’s Quebec counterpart Marcel Blanchet for capitulating to right-wing threats to disrupt the electoral process.

Montreal Gazette, 11 September 2007

Straw words ‘sparked veil attack’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A leading Muslim has blamed Jack Straw’s comments for an attack in which a woman’s veil was torn from her face. The woman was attacked in Liverpool by a man shouting racist abuse, the day after the former foreign secretary criticised veils that cover the face. Mohammed Akbar Ali, ex-chairman of the Liverpool Islamic Institute, said Mr Straw should have known better.

Merseyside Police, who say the attack was a hate crime, met Muslim leaders on Saturday to hear their concerns.

Mr Akbar Ali, who was involved in the campaign to free Liverpool hostage Ken Bigley in Iraq, said the attack was no coincidence. “I put the blame squarely and without any hesitation on Jack Straw,” he said. “He’s a responsible member of the government and is in a constituency with a large number of Muslims – he should have known better than make such a statement.”

Mr Straw, Labour MP for Blackburn and leader of the House of Commons, said he believed covering faces could make community relations more difficult. He said watching facial expressions was an important part of contact between people. Mr Straw said he asked Muslim women meeting him at his constituency surgeries to remove their veils.

BBC News, 12 October 2006

Canada PM opposes Muslim veil decision

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Harper and friendCanadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Sunday he disagrees with a decision to allow Muslim women to wear veils covering their faces when they vote.

Elections Canada – an independent body that oversees national elections – said last week that Muslim women will be allowed to wear veils when they vote in by-elections later this month in Quebec, where the issue of the traditional covering has been hotly contested.

The decision means women who wear niqabs – which cover the entire face except for the eyes – or a burqa, an all-covering body veil, can bring a photo ID or another document proving their identity when they vote in the Quebec elections.

Harper said he “profoundly disagrees” with the decision and noted all four parties in Parliament this past spring voted to bring in a new law requiring visual identification of voters. “That’s the purpose of the law,” said Harper, speaking to reporters following an international summit in Sydney, Australia. ‘That was a law adopted virtually unanimously by Parliament. I think this decision goes in an entirely different direction,’ he said.

Harper said he hopes Elections Canada reconsiders, “but in the meantime, if that doesn’t happen, Parliament will have to consider what actions it’s going to take to make sure that its intentions are put into place.”

The decision comes after the Quebec’s chief election officer required Muslim women to show their faces in order to be allowed to vote in a provincial election. The decision was condemned by Muslim groups who said it forced women to decide whether to adhere to their religious beliefs or violate their faith and vote.

The by-elections – which typically occur when a Parliament members leaves their seat early – will be held on Sept. 17 in three different districts in Quebec.

The issue of the Muslim veil has repeatedly come up in the province, which is predominantly Catholic. In February, an 11-year-old Muslim girl participating in a soccer tournament in Quebec was pulled off the field after she refused to remove her headscarf.

Associated Press, 9 September 2007