BNP jibe at lawyer who opposed veiled judges

A barrister who argued that Muslim judges in Britain should never wear the veil in court has been accused by a fellow barrister of deploying the arguments of the British National Party.

Barbara Hewson was commenting on guidance issued to judges earlier this year by the Judicial Studies Board. The advice did not rule out the possibility that women judges, magistrates or tribunal members might wear the niqab, or veil, in court. Instead, it asked rhetorically: "Is the constituency which is served by the courts entitled to see the person dispensing justice?"

Miss Hewson, writing in the Bar Council's magazine Counsel, said it was worrying that the board's advice contemplated the possibility of veiled judges. Describing the guidance as "astonishing and subversive", she said: "The United Kingdom is not a sharia state."

Responding in the magazine, Fatim Kurji wrote: "As for veiled judges and the suggestion that the 'United Kingdom is not a sharia state', this is what I call 'the BNP argument'. It implies a woman who wears a niqab comes at the erosion of British values. Such an astonishingly offensive remark undermines the long-enduring libertarian values."

Miss Kurji said she was no fan of niqab but even less so of a legal system "that restricts access to justice on the basis of religious expression".

Telegraph