The National Post isn't an expert on Islam

“Decorum is important. Hats and sunglasses, for example, are not allowed, and I don’t see why scarves on the head would be. The same rules need to be applied to everyone.”

With that line, another battle is brewing over head scarves being worn in a courtroom, as a Montreal judge refused to hear the case of one Rania El-Alloul who was in the docks over a car seizure. What was she wearing? Well, the article calls it a niqab.

But Judge Marengo refused to hear the merits of the case, citing a regulation governing court decorum that states simply, “Any person appearing before the court must be suitably dressed.”

She noted Ms. El-Alloul had said her hijab was a religious requirement. “In my opinion, the courtroom is a secular place and a secular space,” she said. “There are no religious symbols in this room, not on the walls and not on the persons.”

Canadian courts have wrestled with the issue of a witness wearing the niqab, which covers the entire face except for the eyes. The concern then was the right of an accused to assess a witness’s credibility by seeing her face. In 2012, the Supreme Court of Canada established a framework to be applied case by case to determine whether a witness could wear a niqab in court.

Seems all fine and good. I mean, of course, about the part banning wearing the niqab in court. Don't ask me, ask Salim Mansur. It's basically uncontestable.

So of course, that notorious Zionist National Post screws this article up by posting a completely misleading and irrelevent photo with the article: which it also screws up the caption on.


The niqab, as mentioned in the article, covers the face except for the eyes. The headscarf shown in the photo, which is identified as a hijab in the caption, does not cover the face and is, in fact, a...headscarf. Posting this photo gives the casual reader^† the impression that the judge banned this item of clothing and not the niqab, the article of clothing actually banned. For those wanting to keep score, a niqab looks like this:


^† Even a non-casual reader can be confused. Just ask Disqus commenters SMA or Lagoonatic.