Canada: Islamic veil allowed in legal hearing

A judge cannot refuse to take testimony from a woman because she is wearing an Islamic veil, a Canadian court ruled on Wednesday. A citizen may wear any religious attire in a courtroom so long as their “religious beliefs are sincere” and they do not “conflict with another person’s constitutional rights,” Canada’s Quebec Court of […]

A judge cannot refuse to take testimony from a woman because she is wearing an Islamic veil, a Canadian court ruled on Wednesday.

A citizen may wear any religious attire in a courtroom so long as their “religious beliefs are sincere” and they do not “conflict with another person’s constitutional rights,” Canada’s Quebec Court of Appeal ruled unanimously.

Rania El-Alloul, a Muslim, was expelled from a courtroom in 2015 for wearing a hijab.

Judge Eliana Marengo of the Court of Quebec had cited a court ruling that every person must be “appropriately dressed” and compared El-Alloul’s headscarf “to a hat or sunglasses.”

But Marengo did not take into account the right of El-Alloul “to religious expression,” the three appeals judges ruled. (AFP)