Muslim schoolgirl wins court case to wear the jilbab

3/3/2005 7:00:00 AM GMT

Source:AFP

A British court has ruled in favour of 16-year-old Shabina Begum to wear the jilbab, a full-length type of gown, at school.

An appeals court judge, Lord Justice Brooke, ruled that Shabina had been unlawfully excluded from school for wearing the jilbab instead of the school uniform and that Denbigh High School had denied her the right to manifest her religion.

In a legal battle which closely echoes the recent controversy over a French government decision to ban "conspicuous" religious insignia in schools, the High Court initially ruled against Begun in June last year.

But the decision was reversed by Lord Justice Brooke who called on the Department of Education to give schools more guidance on how to comply with their obligations under the Human Rights Act.

The court had been told that Begum, an academically strong pupil of Bangladeshi origin, had previously worn a shalwar kameez, a traditional South Asian form of attire comprising of trousers worn under a dress-length tunic.

But having developed a deepening interest in Islam, Begum arrived at the start of the academic year in September 2002 wearing a jilbab. She was told to go home and change but she refused.

Denbigh School, where around 80 percent of the students are Muslim, argued that female Islamic pupils had a wide choice of other traditional clothing they could wear, including skirts, trousers or a shalwar kameez.

The school's lawyers argued that Begum had insisted on wearing the jilbab, which the school said posed a potential safety risk due to its length, and as such had effectively chosen to stay away.

Begum was represented by civil rights lawyer Cherie Booth, wife of British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who argued during an appeal in December that the girl's rights had been infringed.

"Her rights to manifest her religious beliefs should be respected," Booth said. "I say our policy is to respect diversity, and it is not for the public authority to judge which beliefs are more valid than others," she said.