Wear the Veil, Lose the Case

LGF points us to a Detroit case in which a woman refused to take off her Muslim veil in court, and as a result, the judge tossed her complaint:

DETROIT - Ginnnah Muhammad of Detroit was looking for her day in court.

Instead, she said she felt as if a judge forced her to choose between her case and her religion in a small-claims dispute in Hamtramck District Court.

A devout Muslim, she wore a niqab - a scarf and veil to cover her face and head except for her eyes - Oct. 11 as she contested a rental car company’s charging her $2,750 to repair a vehicle after thieves broke into it.

Judge Paul Paruk said he needed to see her face to judge her truthfulness and gave Muhammad, 42, a choice: take off the veil when testifying or the case would be dismissed. She kept the veil on.

“I just feel so sad,” Muhammad said last week. “I feel that the court is there for justice for us. I didn’t feel like the court recognized me as a person that needed justice. I just feel I can’t trust the court.” ...

So what was the judge's reasoning?

Paruk said that as a fact finder, he needs to see the face of a person testifying. Michigan has no rules governing what judges can do regarding religious attire of people in court, so the judges have leeway on how to run their courtrooms.

“My job in the courtroom is to make a determination as to the veracity of somebody’s claim,” he said. “Part of that, you need to identify the witness and you need to look at the witness and watch how they testify.”

Paruk said he offered to let Muhammad, who was born in the United States and converted to Islam at the age of 10, wear the veil during the proceedings except when she testified. He said this was the first time someone had come before his court wearing a niqab, and he noted that many Muslims do not consider it a religious symbol.

“I felt I was trying to accommodate her as best I could,” he said.

It won't be the last time someone tries to wear a veil in court. They'll keep trying until some judge creates a new precedent that allows it. When that happens, we may end up like this:

"Police in Manchester (England) have been told not to arrest Muslims wanted on warrants at prayer times during the holy month of Ramadan.An internal email listing prayer times was sent to officers in the metropolitan division asking them not to make planned arrests during those periods for reasons of religious sensitivity, Greater Manchester Police confirmed.

Some officers are said to have been angered by the instruction. But a police spokesman said confusion arose because the original memo was unclear, and a second email has clarified that there is no blanket ban on arrests, simply a request for sensitivity."

Yes, let's all be sensitive...