Lord Neuberger, the Supreme Court President. Photograph: David Levene for the Guardian
CAIRO – Almost a year after a judge upheld an earlier ban on niqab in British courts, the country's most senior judge called for showing fairness and understanding of different cultures by respecting Muslim women's right to wear the Islamic face-veil in court.
"It 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," Lord Neuberger, the Supreme Court President said in a statement cited by the Guardian on Friday, April 17.
“Well-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, and how some people deem it inappropriate to confront others or to be confronted - for instance with an outright denial.”
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According to the senior judge, judges must have “an understanding of different cultural and social habits” in their bid to show fairness to those involved in trials.
Neuberger made his pro-niqab comments while addressing the Criminal Justice Alliance in a lengthy speech entitled “Fairness in the courts: the best we can do”.
In January 2014, judge Peter Murphy maintained an earlier ban on Muslim face-veil in British courts after telling a Muslim defendant that she was forced to remove her face veil (niqab) while giving evidence.
The judge was looking at a case of alleged witness intimidation against defendant Rebekah Dawson and her brother Matthias Dawson.
Dawson, 22, attended the start of her trial wearing niqab.
Refusing to remove her face-veil, the judge ordered her to remove it if she wanted to give evidence.
Seven months later, Europe’s top rights court upheld a French ban on Islamic full-face niqab.
The decision has been criticized as shocking by rights organization and Muslim women after the court accepted Paris’s argument that it encouraged citizens to "live together".
Britain is home to a Muslim community of nearly 2.7 million.
While hijab is an obligatory code of dress for Muslim women, the majority of Muslim scholars agree that a woman is not obliged to wear niqab.
Scholars believe it is up to women to decide whether to take on the veil or burqa, a loose outfit covering the whole body from head to toe and wore by some Muslim women.
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