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Canada's Supreme Court says niqab can be worn while testifying
The Supreme Court of Canada has ruled that a witness can — under certain circumstances — wear a niqab while giving testimony in court. In a split decision, the court affirmed both an accused person’s right to a fair trial and the right to religious freedom.

The controversial issue has reared its head in recent years, leading to a new law in Quebec for public sector workers and new federal immigration rules that ban face coverings while taking the oath of citizenship.

In this latest case, a Muslim woman wanted to wear a niqab while testifying against two men she claims sexually assaulted her when she was a child. The two accused claim the Charter of Rights and Freedoms allows them to confront their accuser and observe her facial expressions while she testifies.

But the woman’s lawyers say facial expressions can be misleading, and add that Islamic sexual assault victims will be hesitant to go to the police if they’re barred from wearing a niqab while testifying.

During an appeal hearing last year, the woman’s lawyer faced tough questions from the high court justices.

Justice Morris Fish was among the judges who said there isn’t a single defense lawyer who would agree to allow a witness to testify against their client without their face being clearly visible.

Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin said there is no half-way measure that would reconcile the right to an accused to a fair trial and the right to cover one's face during a trial. She asked, “Do you wear half a veil? Do you put a screen up? It is very hard to reconcile values that are oppositional.”

Muslim community leaders and scholars are divided as to whether the niqab is truly required by the faith. Tyler Hodgson, a lawyer for the Muslim Canadian Congress, said, “There should be no legal presumption that a witness that wears a niqab in a courtroom is doing so for a religious reason.”
Posted by: ryuge 2012-12-21
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=358427