{"id":102190,"date":"2013-08-25T12:58:50","date_gmt":"2013-08-25T07:28:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=102190"},"modified":"2013-08-29T02:25:28","modified_gmt":"2013-08-28T20:55:28","slug":"uk-muslim-woman-must-remove-burka-in-court-judge-insists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/uk-muslim-woman-must-remove-burka-in-court-judge-insists\/","title":{"rendered":"Muslim Woman Must Remove Burka In Court"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A young Muslim woman in a <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=burka&amp;x=5&amp;y=8\">burka<\/a><\/span> was told by the judge to take off her face veil, as she took to the dock to enter her plea, because someone could impersonate her. The\u00a0judge has refused to let a Muslim woman in a full-length burka enter a plea until she showed her face to the court.<\/p>\n<p>Judge Peter Murphy at Blackfriars Crown Court said the principle of open justice overrode the woman\u2019s right to her religious beliefs, but the woman, 21, from Hackney,\u00a0<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.courtnewsuk.co.uk\/?news_id=34109\" target=\"_hplink\">refused to remove the covering in front of men in the court room, Court News UK reported.<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/uk-muslim-woman-must-remove-burka-in-court-judge-insists\/burka\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-102191\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-102191\" title=\"Burka\" src=\"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Burka.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"250\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Burka.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Burka-300x187.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><\/a>Judge Murphy told her: \u201cIt is necessary for this court to be satisfied that they can recognise the defendant.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>\u201cWhile I obviously respect the right to dress in any way she wishes, certainly while outside the court, the interests of justice are paramount.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI can&#8217;t, as a circuit judge, accept a plea from a person whose identity I am unable to ascertain.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He added: \u201cIt would be easy for someone on a later occasion to appear and claim to be the defendant.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe court would have no way to check on that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The defendant, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, is facing an allegation of intimidating a witness in Finsbury Park, north London, in June.<\/p>\n<p>Her barrister, Claire Burtwistle, told the court she was not prepared to lower her veil at all while men were in the room.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn front of women, it is not an issue\u201d, she said. \u201cIt is simply men that she will not allow to see her face.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ms Burtwistle suggested herself, a female police officer or a female prison guard could identify the defendant and confirm to the court that it is the same person as in the police arrest photos.<\/p>\n<p>Prosecutor Sarah Counsell added that the police officer in charge of the case was content that he recognised the defendant while she was in the burka.<\/p>\n<p>But Judge Murphy rejected the suggestions, saying: \u201cIt seems to me to be quite fundamental that the court is sure who it is the court is dealing with.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFurthermore, this court, as long as I am sitting, has the highest respect for any religious tradition a person has.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn my courtroom also, this sometimes conflicts with the interests of a paramount need for the administration of justice. In my court room, that&#8217;s going to come first.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He said \u201cthe principle of open justice\u201d could not be subject to the religion of the defendant.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI am not saying this because of the particular form of dress by this defendant\u201d, he added.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI apply that to any form of dress that had the same issues.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Judge Murphy adjourned the case for legal argument over whether the defendant should have to remove her veil.<\/p>\n<p>It will be heard again on September 12.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":102191,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,3402,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-102190","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-editors-choice","category-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.3 - 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