WASHINGTON: Activists and women's leaders are crying foul over a Canadian court ruling that allows Muslim women who wear the complete niqab – the veil that covers the face – to testify in court, but at the same time veiled women are barred from flying on airplanes if remaining covered. Last week, an Ontario Court of Appeals ruled in favor of a woman to testify in court with her face covered, in a ruling that was praised by a number of women's rights advocates. The same ruling even gives a woman the right to clear the courtroom of men, including male staff, the judge and the opposing sides lawyer, if she chooses to remove her veil. There was major opposition to the decision, with a number of conservatives claiming “shariah law has come to Canada.” Ezra Levant, writing in the Toronto Sun, was adamant that Islamic law had arrived and it was changing the face, literally, of Canada. “Face-obliterating veils called niqabs are a medieval tool for gender apartheid. They destroy a woman's identity. They turn her into an object, a chattel owned by her master — which is why they're the norm in Saudi Arabia, where women have fewer rights than men and only slightly more than animals,” Levant wrote. “Burkas — an even more prison-like shroud, with just a tiny beekeeper's screen to peek through — are the Taliban variety. Those are now allowed on the witness stand in Canada, too.” Supporting the ruling was the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, which said in a statement that the court made the right choice in giving women the power to choose how they want to live. The case involves a 32-year-old Muslim woman who said that her cousin and uncle had repeatedly sexually abused her when she was a child. A lower court judge had ordered the woman to remove her veil during a preliminary inquiry, sparking controversy in the Canadian Muslim community. The Superior Court then quashed that decision following an appeal. Ontario's Court of Appeal said last week that Muslim witnesses should have the chance to explain their religious convictions and demonstrate why removing the niqab would offend those beliefs. “If, in the specific circumstances, the accused's fair trial right can be honoured only by requiring the witness to remove the niqab, the niqab must be removed if the witness is to testify,” the court said. Rania Soliman, a Canadian of Egyptian heritage, told Bikya Masr that this ruling shows that women can make the decisions that affect how they go through their daily lives. “If they are in court and this is how they are living, isn't it just fine. If someone has a lot of tattoos or something is that not a distraction. Why is it that women, and especially Muslim women, are the target of conservative citizens who don't understand why these things exist?” she said. “There are a lot of injustices in the world and Muslim women are not the only ones. Many choose to wear the veil so let them, it is a very small percentage of Muslims worldwide.” BM
