Muslim woman on trial must remove niqab to give evidence, orders judge in compromise ruling
updated on 19 September 2013
A Muslim woman has been told by a judge that she must remove her niqab (a full-face veil that leaves only the wearer’s eyes visible) when she gives evidence, but may wear it throughout the rest of her trial.
The woman from London, 22, has pleaded not guilty to a charge of witness intimidation. She has said that it is against her religious beliefs to show her face in public. In a compromise ruling, Judge Peter Murphy has ordered that while the woman must remove her niqab to give evidence, she will be screened from the view of all but the judge, jury and legal counsel when doing so, and will be permitted to wear her niqab during the rest of the trial.
Explaining his ruling, Murphy spoke of the need to balance the defendant's right to manifest her religious beliefs as set out by Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights, with open justice and the needs of the United Kingdom's long-established adversarial trial system. While the obligation to wear the niqab is by no means universally agreed upon in Islam, Murphy acknowledged that the woman’s choice to wear it should be respected as a manifestation of her personal religious belief.
Murphy concluded: "The ability of the jury to see the defendant for the purposes of evaluating her evidence is crucial …The right to give evidence involves a corresponding duty to submit that evidence to the scrutiny of the jury."
