CAIRO: An Egyptian court ordered on Wednesday a stay of a ban on the full face veil, or niqab, in female schools affiliated with the Islamic Al-Azhar University.
The administrative court s decision came a week after it ruled, on grounds of constitutional liberties, against a ban by the education ministry on women wearing the niqab in university residences and examination halls.
The court s ruling came in response to a complaint by a student in a high school affiliated with the prestigious Sunni university.
A lawyer for Al-Azhar told the court there was no formal decision by Al-Azhar to ban the niqab.
Abdel Mutti Bayumi, a member of Al-Azhar Islamic Research Academy, said Al-Azhar head Mohammed Tantawi did not issue a decision absolutely banning the niqab but he only banned it in all-female classes taught by women.
He said that, in light of the court s decision, the council might decide to revisit the ban at a meeting tomorrow.
The administrative court had overturned the education ministry s ban after a petition by dozens of students banned from residences and sitting their exams.
The government and Al-Azhar have shown signs of concern over the trend of the niqab, which is associated in Egypt with the ultra-conservative Salafi school of thought practiced mostly in Saudi Arabia.
Most Muslim Egyptian women cover their hair. The niqab is thought to be gaining ground, partly as a result of the growing influence of satellite television stations that air Salafi preaching.
The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) had condemned in a statement earlier this month the administrative court’s ruling on Jan. 3 to uphold the decision banning students who wear the niqab from sitting for exams in public universities.
The EIPR said the ban s declared objective of preventing cheating during exams could be achieved through less drastic measures. Female students wearing the niqab told the court they were willing to uncover their faces and be subjected to body searches at the beginning of each exam.
“State universities could have employed a wide variety of precautionary measures to ensure order during exams, as they had done in previous years, said EIPR’s executive director Hossam Bahgat. “Choosing the most excessive measure is a continuation of a policy which clearly penalizes students who wear the niqab for their beliefs. -AFP
