Britain's top judge suggests Muslim women should be allowed to wear the veil in court

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“Judges have to show, and have to be seen to show, respect to everybody equally, and that requires an understanding of different cultural and social habits." 

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | UK Desk
Source/Credit: The Independent
By John Bingham | April 17, 2015

Lord Neuberger, the President of the Supreme Court, says that judges should show respect toward different cultures 

 Judges should allow Muslim women to appear in court wearing a full-face veil, Britain’s most senior judge has suggested.

Lord Neuberger, the President of the Supreme Court, said it was crucial that courts and judges “show, and be seen to show” respect towards different customs.

He said this included having an understanding of the “different cultural and social habits” of those appearing as witnesses, defendants or jurors in cases.

His comments, in a lecture about the need for courts to be less intimidating, come at a time of uncertainty over the place of the Muslim niqab, or full face-veil, in the legal system.

In 2013 the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Thomas, said there was a need for clear guidance on the issue following controversy over the trial at London’s Blackfriars Crown Court of a Muslim woman accused of witness intimidation.

Rebekah Dawson was told that she would be forced to take off her full-face veil if she gave evidence, which she declined to do. She was later jailed for six months after changing her plea to guilty.

In his address to the Criminal Justice Alliance, Lord Neuberger said judges and lawyers often failed to recognise how “artificial and intimidating” courts could be for ordinary people, adding: “I sometimes wonder whether our trial procedures really are the best way of getting at the truth.”
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 He said this did not mean a call for a major overhaul of court proceedings but said judges, lawyers and court staff must do as much as possible to help people feel at ease in court.
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“Judges have to show, and have to be seen to show, respect to everybody equally, and that requires an understanding of different cultural and social habits.

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