CAIRO: Egypt warned against racism and intolerance in Canada after a young girl was expelled from a football tournament for insisting on wearing an Islamic headscarf, the foreign ministry said on Thursday. Ihab Fawzi, a senior official at the ministry, met on Tuesday with Canada s deputy ambassador to Cairo, Christopher Hull, to express concern over mounting signs of racism and intolerance in Canada after the incident, it said. The question of wearing the headscarf should remain a part of individual freedoms, so long as it does not harm security, public order or the values of a society, the ministry said in a statement. Hull was quoted as saying the decision was taken by a referee and did not represent the position of his government. Asmahan Mansour, 11, was ousted from a tournament on February 25 in a Montreal suburb after refusing to take off her hijab. Brigitte Frot, executive director of the Quebec Soccer Federation, told AFP that she was not allowed on the field for safety reasons, not religious objections. It s unfortunate, she said. I believe [football s world governing body] FIFA will have to rule, yes or no, whether hijabs are permitted on the soccer field. Whatever they decide, we ll abide by the rules.
Media reports said the referee, who is Muslim himself, feared Mansour could be choked if the scarf were tugged on.
