Egypt court rules against U.S. university on face veil

 

By Cynthia Johnston

CAIRO (Reuters) - An Egyptian court ruled on Saturday that a U.S.-accredited university in Cairo was wrong to bar a female scholar who wears an Islamic face veil from using its facilities, court sources and a lawyer for the woman said.

The American University in Cairo, seen as a bastion of Western liberal education in Egypt, had revoked the woman's longstanding library privileges after she donned the niqab, a face veil that leaves only the wearer's eyes uncovered.

In its ruling, a special chamber of the High Administrative Court upheld a 2001 court ruling that the school could not bar Iman al-Zainy from its campus over the niqab because her decision to veil was a matter of personal and religious freedom.

Hossam Bahgat, a human rights lawyer who was part of Zainy's legal team, described the ruling as a precedent-setting victory for "women's autonomy over their body and dress code".

"The court said in the strongest of terms that it is up to women to decide about their clothing, and that women should not be discriminated against because of the clothes that they choose to wear," he told Reuters. "A complete ban on the niqab is now outlawed as a matter of principle."

The American University in Cairo said it was consulting with lawyers following the decision, but that some of the principles mentioned by the court appeared to support its position.

Court sources said Saturday's ruling does allow the university some leeway in placing restrictions on the niqab due to public necessity. Female students, for example, could be required to reveal their faces at the university gate to a designated male security guard or female staff.

In 2001, Zainy was a doctoral student of English at Egypt's religious al-Azhar University but had for over a decade held privileges at the American University in Cairo library.

Bahgat said Zainy, who has since obtained her Ph.D. and was pursuing the case out of principle, did not object to revealing her face at the campus gate for security reasons.