Woman to remove niqab in court

Niqab disallowed in Canadian courts London - Mai Mihaimeed A Toronto court in Canada has ordered a woman who is filing charges of sexual assault to remove her niqab to testify against her alleged attackers. On Wednesday, Justice Norris Weisman ruled that the woman’s face veil “masks her demeanour and blocks effective cross-examination by counsel for the accused". The decision applies to the preliminary hearings where the woman, known only as NS, will face her uncle and cousin, whom she claims sexually abused her in her childhood. NS has fought the Canadian court’s ruling to disallow the wearing of the niqab during hearings since the case began 6 years ago.  Since then a series of appeals and decisions leading all the way to the Canadian supreme court have been made, in 2012 the Supreme court ruled that the issue should be decided on a case-by-case basis. The requirements set out by the court consist of four aspects a judge must consider, including: the potential witness's depth of religious belief, and whether the veil could lessen the fairness of the trial.. Much controversy has surrounded the ruling, which has proved unpopular with many feminists groups as well as Muslim women. Public awareness campaign Slut Walk Toronto issued a statement on their Twitter on Thursday condemning the decision has a violation of women’s rights, saying: We DO NOT support court systems enforcing what survivors get to put on their bodies in order to share their experiences of sexual violence.” Others however argue that the ruling upheld tenants of Canadian democracy. Canadian news site,    Globe and Mail said on their Twitter: “Being bare-faced in court is a bona fide requirement in a democratic society, just as it is at border security points – the same woman said she would take off her niqab for border checks.” The preliminary hearing has been scheduled to be held in early May, but NS has already revealed through her lawyers that she plans to appeal the ruling on niqab