{"id":4281,"date":"2015-04-21T09:47:05","date_gmt":"2015-04-21T09:47:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/english.thesunrisetoday.com\/?p=4281"},"modified":"2015-04-21T09:47:05","modified_gmt":"2015-04-21T09:47:05","slug":"let-muslim-women-wear-full-face-veil-in-court-top-british-judge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/english.thesunrisetoday.com\/index.php\/let-muslim-women-wear-full-face-veil-in-court-top-british-judge\/","title":{"rendered":"Let Muslim women wear full-face veil in court : top British judge"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Lord<\/a>Judges in the United Kingdom should allow Muslim women to appear in their courts wearing a full-veil, Britain\u2019s top judge said Friday.
\nDuring a lecture about making courts less intimidating, David Neuberger, the President of the Supreme Court, said it was crucial that courts and judges \u201cshow, and be seen to show\u201d respect towards different customs.
\nThis would include understanding \u201cthe different cultural and social habits\u201d of those appearing as witnesses, defendants, or jurors, he said in an address to the Criminal Justice Alliance, The Telegraph reported.
\nThe judge raised the issue as a shortcoming on behalf of lawyers and judges who have failed to see how \u201cartificial and intimidating\u201d a court room can be for those outside the field.
\n\u201cI sometimes wonder whether our trial procedures really are the best way of getting at the truth,\u201d he added.
\n\u201cIt is necessary to have some understanding as to how people from different cultural, social, religious or other backgrounds think and behave and how they expect others to behave,\u201d Neuberger said.
\n\u201cWell known examples include how some religions consider it inappropriate to take the oath, how some people consider it rude to look other people in the eye, how some women find it inappropriate to appear in public with their face uncovered\u2026\u201d he continued.
\nMuslim associations in Britain welcomed the statement.
\n\u201cLord Neuberger\u2019s eminently sensible statement also upholds our best British traditions of accommodation and fair play,\u201d Shuja Shafi, Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Britain, said.
\n\u201cA judge who respects and is attuned to the sensitivities of those in the court room should hopefully expect better results. In the case of the minority of those people who do cover their face for religious, cultural or any other reason, they should be allowed to do so unless the situation demands otherwise.\u201d
\nSuleman Nagdi, of the Federation of Muslim Organizations, described Neuberger\u2019s remarks as \u201cheart-warming and really welcome.\u201d
\n\u201cThis is what our great British system is built on: respect for the other,\u201d he was quoted by the Telegraph as saying.
\nHowever, Keith Porteous Wood, Executive Director of the National Secular Society, said that allowing a full niqab in court may act as an impediment to justice.
\n\u201cLord Neuberger understandably recommends judges understand the expectations of how those \u2018from different cultural, social, religious or other backgrounds think and behave and how they expect others to behave\u2019 and that the judiciary should show \u2018respect to everybody equally,\u2019\u201d he said.
\n\u201cIt was a missed opportunity, however, not to acknowledge that occasionally \u2013 for example on a defendant wearing a full face veil \u2013 doing so might conflict with justice being seen to be done, or even justice being done.\u201d<\/p>\n

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