Saturday, June 9, 2007
Egypt court rules against U.S. university on face veil
The American University in Cairo, seen as a bastion of Western liberal education in Egypt, had revoked the woman's longstanding library privileges after she donned the niqab, a face veil that leaves only the wearer's eyes uncovered.
In its ruling, a special chamber of the High Administrative Court upheld a 2001 court ruling that the school could not bar Iman al-Zainy from its campus over the niqab because her decision to veil was a matter of personal and religious freedom.
Hossam Bahgat, a human rights lawyer who was part of Zainy's legal team, described the ruling as a precedent-setting victory for "women's autonomy over their body and dress code."
"The court said in the strongest of terms that it is up to women to decide about their clothing, and that women should not be discriminated against because of the clothes that they choose to wear," he told Reuters. "A complete ban on the niqab is now outlawed as a matter of principle."
The American University in Cairo said it was consulting with lawyers following the decision, but that some of the principles mentioned by the court appeared to support its position.
Court sources said Saturday's ruling does allow the university some leeway in placing restrictions on the niqab due to public necessity. Female students, for example, could be required to reveal their faces at the university gate to a designated male security guard or female staff...
Freedom meets freedom. It's a difficult situation. The niqab (and hijab) are not simply religious matters, or matters of free choice. Leaving aside the very serious security issue, they are also considered political expressions, not necessarily required by Islam, only by certain interpretations of Islam. What may on one level represent freedom of choice, quickly becomes a public statement that spreads through compulsion. Hence, even some majority Muslim states, like Tunisia, ban the hijab.
So it's a conundrum -- risk pandering to the radical Islamists and allow them to compel women to cover up, or stand against it and provide women an excuse for not doing so..."it's against the rules"...but sacrifice some admitted free choice.
Ban the hijab. Wear a hat.
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To articulate this ruling in terms of competing rights is, I would argue, to miss the point. Egyptians do not enjoy the freedoms of, say, women employed by universities in the United States. The "freedom" to wear the niqab is in this instance only a further expression of the bondage endured by anyone with the misfortune to live in an "Arab" country, these being universally dictatorships or the like (with the partial exception of Iraq due to continuing Coalition military support).
You of course make a good point. Sadly, AUC could have been an oasis...