1/18/2005 6:50:00 AM GMT
Source: AP
The Auckland District court in New Zealand ruled on Monday that two women, both Muslims, must remove their veils while giving evidence in a trial.
One of the two women was quoted as saying that she would rather die than show her face in public.
The court said that the two witnesses Fouzya Salim and Feraiba Razamjoo, both Afghans living in New Zealand, must show their faces to the judge, lawyers and female court staff, according to Radio New Zealand.
Since last year and Salim and Razamjoo are fighting a defence lawyer's application to remove their veils in court so their demeanor could be assessed.
But the two women refused to remove their veil in court while giving evidence in a fraud case.
The defence lawyers insisted on seeing the women’s faces while they testify, saying "we need to see the body language'' of witnesses.
The court ruled that while it could be a fair trial even if the women wore burqas, the defendant had a legitimate expectation of trial by the normal process.
But the decision also said that the court will provide screens to protect the women from public view.
The court said that the ruling only applied to the case in question.
And if the women refused to remove their veils, then they will be held in contempt of court and face penalties and might be jailed.
Salim, 30, has been living in New Zealand for nearly10 years, and has never appeared in public places without the burqa, veil, which covers all of her body.
When asked during a hearing last October's about her reason for refusing to remove the veil, she said, "I don't want to show my face in public ... I would rather kill myself than uncover my face and sit here.''
According to defence lawyer Colin Amery, the full burqa and veil prevented the court from being able to "scrutinize (people) in terms of body language and so forth.''
"It's a partial victory for the New Zealand way of doing things and our justice system,'' he said.