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VEILED WOMAN ORDERED TO SHOW HER FACE IN COURT
Sally Bengtsson / 2009-09-25 11:49:58
A court case in Spain was mentioned on all the news programmes last week when High Court Judge Javier Gómez Bermúdez threw out a female witness during a proceeding last Wednesday after she refused to remove a Muslim veil covering her face before testifying.
The woman is the sister of Hassan Hssisni, a suicide bomber who carried out his attack in Iraq in January 2005. The case involves nine alleged Islamists, who are in the dock, facing allegations of sending Mujahidin from Afghanistan to carry out suicide attacks in Iraq. The judge said witnesses must show their face while they are testifying before the bench. “By looking at your face, I can see whether you are lying to me or if you are surprised by a question I ask you,” Gómez Bermúdez told her. After the proceedings, the witness agreed to testify on Monday wearing a burka, but with her face visible to the judge and her back facing the public galley, and with no cameras to photograph her. The judge said that he did not want to charge her with disobedience, but underlined that religious beliefs cannot be above civil law.
Tags: Burka, Courtcase,
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