WUNRN
Also Via Human Rights Without Frontiers
Russia - Supreme Court Upholds Ban on Hijabs in
Schools
11 February 2015 - Russia's Supreme Court has
upheld a controversial prohibition of religious headwear
in schools in the republic of Mordovia, RAPSI legal news agency
reported Wednesday.
The ruling comes in response
to a 2014 decree enacted by the government of Mordovia that also
forbid schoolgirls from wearing miniskirts, jeans or low-cut tops, or
from having visible piercings, dying their hair unnatural colors, or
wearing religious attire — including hijabs.
The decree prompted an outcry
from religious activists in the republic, who brought their complaints
before the Supreme Court.
According to RAPSI, the legislation
was introduced last October after a schoolgirl swallowed a pin used
to secure a hijab.
Mordovia's grand mufti, Fagim Shafiyev,
criticized the ban for allegedly violating the Russian Constitution
and infringing on freedom of religion. Shafiyev had filed
a complaint over the move with the republic's prosecutors, but
they said there was no legal basis to lift the ban, the Regnum
news agency reported.