CAIRO: Hala El-Malky, a presenter on Channel Five, will be the first veiled anchor to appear on a local Egyptian television station. El-Malky was not allowed to appear on TV after she donned the Islamic headscarf. This led her to file a lawsuit against the station, which she won. El-Malky then received approval to appear on the Channel Five to anchor a program while wearing the veil. Ahmed Al-Sayed, lawyer, told The Daily Star Egypt that the Egyptian constitution explicitly stresses the concept of equality between all citizens and does not indicate that any person should be treated differently based on what he or she decides to wear. As for the veil in particular, Al-Sayed indicated that article two of the constitution states that Egypt is an Islamic country and that Islam is the principal source of legislation. And since veiling is an Islamic costume, then it will be against the constitution to stand in the way of any Egyptian woman who decides to wear it, Al-Sayed added. Regardless of whether we agree or disagree on the veil issue on principle, we all have to accept and respect the individual s right to decide her style of clothes, Gamal Eid, executive director for the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information, told The Daily Star Egypt. But we also have to accept unveiled women and not treat them with less respect than veiled ones, Eid added. Fayek Fahim, mass communications professor at Misr International University (MIU), believes that the appearance of the anchor has no effect on the credibility and objectivity of the content they present. Fahim told The Daily Star Egypt that, we have a live example of this in the Arab world referring to Al-Jazeera s famous TV anchor Khadija Ben Ganna whom he described as a super anchor. Anchors are only presenters of the content which is selected by the mastermind and the decision-makers of the channel. Fahim believes that El-Malky s case will not be the last, as according to him 99 percent of Egyptian women are veiled and hence we will have more veiled anchors. The style of dress of Egyptian women has been the subject of widespread debate as last year. Last January, Minister of Religious Endowments Hamdy Zaqzuq expelled an employee from a meeting for refusing to remove her niqab (the full face cover). Farouk Hosni, Minister of Culture, set off a firestorm last November when he criticized the veil and those who choose to wear it. His remarks garnered swift and often angry remarks from Egyptian and Arab religious scholars, some of whom said Egyptian officials were waging war on Islam. Hosni s opinion faced mounting pressure from members in the People s Assembly who urged him to issue an apology. With no conflicts or disputes, traditionally the veil has been present in the dress code of women of all ages in one way or another. Hats and wedding veils that are also considered head covers are adopted everywhere. But controversy seems to only appear when hair covers are talked about in a religious context. However young unmarried women can stay unveiled until they get married. This trend of women covering after marriage has long been adopted in Egyptian society. Up till the last ten years, the veil was only adopted by old married women, and it was hard to find young veiled Egyptians. However, recently the situation changed. Over the past decade, Amr Khaled, a famous Egyptian televangelist, managed to gather many youngsters to his lectures and speeches in Cairo s most popular mosques in elite areas like Mohandiseen and Sixth of October City. Khaled s speeches focused on the veil and as a result, lots of Egyptian girls adopted it.
