THE SWISS basketball association has told a Muslim player that she can't wear a headscarf during league games. , a 19- year-old Swiss citizen of Iraqi origin, is to debut in a regional women's league when the season starts next month. Her team, STV Luzern, sought permission for her to wear the scarf or hijab. But the Swiss association ProBasket said it follows the rules of FIBA, the world governing body. FIBA says the sport has to be neutral, forbidding religious symbols. "If basketball is priority No 1, international rules have to be respected," ProBasket told the Swiss newspaper Neue Luzerner Zeitung. "If religion is priority No 1, then you cannot play basketball." It added that STV Luzern will lose its games by default if Al-Shawk plays with her headscarf. The 19- year-old says she was surprised by the decision but has not said what she will do. "I really can't understand what is happening here," she told the newspaper. "I would not have thought it possible that in a country like Switzerland a headscarf in sport would pose a problem." Moreover, she has not said if she will play without the scarf. Al-Shawk is considered the No 1 player on her team and was honored the best basketball talent in Switzerland in the 2008-2009 season. Several groups have been created on Facebook in support of Al-Shawk, saying in part that even if the headscarf is not a religious symbol it is part and parcel of a Muslim woman's attire.
