BellaOnline Forums News and Politics Civil Rights Muslim Women Forced to Remove Headscarves in Court

Many Muslim women in the USA and other western countries are told that they are unable to wear their headscarves in court. This is a religious costume, one which many Muslim women are afraid to remove. Do you think that this is a violation of the 1st Amendment?

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Wow, that is a tough one.

I can definitely see both sides. If it were just for recognition puposes, then I would say let the woman show her face in private to the judge and 2 lawyers.

But the fact is, the jury kind of depends on what the face looks like of the person on the stand. Whether they are grimacing, shifting their eyes around, or all sorts of different other "tells" of lying.

Maybe a compromise could be reached that on the day a Muslim woman had to testify the courtroom could be closed to all ut the jury, judge, and lawyers.

Or they could tpae her testimony so it would JUST be the judge and lawyers. People would still see her face, but she would not have to BE THERE for it.

It is still not completely fair religious-wise, but those ae the best compromises I can come up with.

I guess on the Muslim side, you could potentially be travelling from a country where you would get jailed or worse for not wearing a headscarf, to a country where you could be jailed for wearing a headscarf. On the courts side, I understand - people need to be able to see the person's face clearly in order to make judgement.

Perhaps there could be a compromise between Muslim leaders in the USA and the lawmakers - something like "a woman is allowed to wear a headscarf over her hair, but is not allowed to wear it over her face".

The other side to the story is that in France, Muslim women are absolutely not allowed to wear headscarves to an educational institution. There is a lot of issues that these women are facing, from all over the world, and I think a lot of it comes from a lack of understanding on both sides.

After 9/11, I say they must remove their headscarves. When women from the free world travel to some of the countries in the Middle East, they must wear certain clothing, according to the practices of that country. So, while in the free world, these women must accomodate our customs and laws.

Whilst I agree that security is important, I think that you can't treat someone differently just because of their religious dress. Would any other religion be forced to remove a religious article in court? I have never heard of it happening to anyone else. That's why I think that there should be some kind of compromise, such as having to show your face, but you can cover your hair, etc. We also need to note that being Muslim is a religion - it doesn't matter where you're from. There are many white Muslim women also who wear headscarves.

It is also misconceived that the Muslim religion is one to be feared. It's not - it's actually a very peaceful religion that has been tainted by a few 'bad eggs'.

In regards to 9/11, there have been many 'terrorist' attacks in history, and many of them have been from people that live in western countries. When the Oklaholma bombing happened, we didn't see white men being told they had to do something different from now on. I don't think it's an issue of terrorism. Most Muslims are very nice people who oppose what terrorists are doing, and have even been affected by them as well. There are terrorists in every culture and religion, and you cannot spot them. We need to remember this.

Surely someone can meet with some American Muslim leaders and discuss these issues? At least then there can be some sort of democratic compromise.

But I can't think of any other religious aticle that hides the face. That is the only problem I see with the headscarves. I don't see any problem with covering the hair or any other part of the body - just the face.

I absolutely agree about it covering the face, but judges are actually jailing Muslim women for wearing headscarves over their hair - still showing their face.

One case that comes to mind is a judge in Georgia jailing a woman for 7 hours for not removing her headscarf. It was just covering her hair, and you could see her face completely clearly.

I can't imagine a nun being made to remove her habit, or a jewish man being made to remove his skullcap, so why should the rules be any different for a Muslim? Surely they can have a scarf over their hair?

That does seem prejudicial.

Do you have a link to that story? Since I live in Georgia, I'm very interested in seeing what that was about. We have some places that are very forward thinking here, and some that are still very much stuck in the back-waters.

Sure! The link is: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/dec/17/georgia-headscarf-courtroom-rollins

Sorry, she wasn't jailed for 7 hours, she was jailed for 10 days!Another lady who was wearing a full headscarf covering her face was jailed for 7 hours.

Lisa Valentine wasn't violent, she just politely advised that she was unable to remove her headscarf for religious reasons. She did swear after the judge enforced his decision, and turned to leave - she was handcuffed. Another link is here: http://muslimmatters.org/2008/12/17/outr...mpt-in-georgia/ And another one: http://muslimahmediawatch.org/2008/12/lisa-valentine-hijab-and-expletives/

I would agree that a head item should be allowed, if it's just on the hair. Otherwise it would be like saying they had to shave their head or change their hairstyle before they could testify. I think the full face should be visible, but that we shouldn't require any other part of the body to be visible. For example if someone wants to wear gloves, they should be able to. The only exception would be if a specific body part was part of the testimony - if they were saying the killer had to have small hands or something like that.