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French Barrister Fights for Her Right to Wear Hijab in Court

Around the world, many powerful Muslim women have been shattering stereotypes, overcoming discriminatory or prejudicial barriers in their path to groundbreaking success.

These women empowered others to rise up and do the same in their own communities, whether it’s in politics, athletics, fashion, or entertainment.

Along that course, French lawyer Sarah Asmeta has taken up a fight on an issue that has become a flashpoint in a debate over identity and immigration.

Though the 30-year-old Muslim lawyer wears hijab at work, she is banned by her local Bar Council from representing clients in the courtroom.

Asmeta was the first person in her family to pursue studies in law. She was also the first person at her law school IXAD in the northern city of Lille to wear a hijab, Reuters reported.

📚 Read Also:  10 Surprising Facts about Muslims in France

“I cannot accept the idea that in my country, to practice a profession, of which I am capable, I need to undress myself,” Asmeta, 30, told Reuters.

Next Wednesday, France’s highest court is due to rule on Asmeta’s case in a judgment that could set a nationwide precedent and will resonate in a country where the hijab has become a flashpoint in a debate over identity and immigration.

Hijab Ban

Currently in France, a majority of Bar Councils, including the largest in Paris, have internal rules that do not allow religious symbols such as the hijab.

Of Bar Councils representing 75% of practitioners, 56% have banned religious symbols to be worn with the gown, according to a survey requested by Poirret for this case.

“Within this general ban there is a precise and indirect discrimination [of Muslim women],” Asmeta’s lawyer Claire Waquet told the court on Tuesday last week.

📚 Read Also:  French Elections: Hijabi Candidate Challenges Anti-Muslim Sentiments

Fighting to the last second, Asmeta, who has positive experiences interning at the International Criminal Court in The Hague and working as a legal assistant in Brussels, is considering moving abroad again as a last resort.

“I was very happy there, I could work, people saw me as a person with competences and not like a problem,” she said.

Islam sees hijab as an obligatory code of dress, not a religious symbol displaying one’s affiliations.

What Muslim women choose to wear is a controversial topic in France. In 2004, it banned hijab in public schools, and in 2010, it became the first European nation to ban burqa, which covers a woman’s face.

The post French Barrister Fights for Her Right to Wear Hijab in Court appeared first on About Islam.



source https://aboutislam.net/muslim-issues/europe/french-barrister-fights-for-her-right-to-wear-hijab-in-court/
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