Sport hijab approved

Temporary ban lifted

By KATIE SCHNEIDER, SUN MEDIA

The Alberta Soccer Association has lifted its temporary ban on Muslim head scarves that prevented some girls from playing the sport.

Under the ruling announced yesterday, players may wear a sport-type hijab, which can come off easily because of a Velcro strap, after it has first been inspected by a referee.

Earlier this month the ASA announced a temporary ban on hijabs after a referee pulled Safaa Menhem, 14, from the field for wearing a hijab deemed a safety risk during a game.

The forward for the Chinook Phantoms U16 squad was allowed to return to the field for her next game after she agreed to modify the scarf so that it tied at the back of her neck.

“But it wasn’t that comfortable,” she said last night, adding she has ordered a sports hijab to wear for her next game.

She said she was pleased to hear the ASA was accommodating her and her religion.

“I was happy to know I was able to play wearing something,” she said.

ASA executive director Ron Axelson said the new ruling trumps the temporary ban, and the association will be developing guidelines to permit other types of hijabs as well.

“I think it’s in some respect a compromise but … it’s important the kids get out on the field and play and enjoy the game,” he said.

Calgary Sun

Canada

Edmonton Journal  

Hijab Ban in Azerbaijan

Imposing a Ban on Wearing Headscarf in Education Institutions in Azerbaijan Will Deprive Thousands of People from Education: Religious Figure

Azerbaijan, Baku /corr. Trend S.Ilhamgizi / The Azerbaijan’s Center for the Protection of Religious Rights and Freedoms of Conscience protests against the draft law on education, imposing a ban for the girls to come to lessons with the headscarf.

“Even, we do not believe that the law will be adopted in such form. If the headscarf will be prohibited in the education institutions, thousand of people will be deprived of their right to get educated,” Ilgar Ibrahimoglu, the Head of the Center reported to Trend on 25 December.

One of the articles in the new draft law on education states “the pupils, teachers and the other educational workers are prohibited to come to the educational institutions with the headscarf and the other religious dresses”. Till now, the Azerbaijani citizens have the freedom of wearing the headscarf.

According to Ibrahimoglu, this article is directed against the human rights and is contrary to the principles of Azerbaijan Constitution, as well as the international documents joined by Azerbaijan. If such law is adopted, the Parliament of Azerbaijan demonstrates disrespect towards the national and the moral values, and the Azerbaijan will appear as a country violating the human rights, he said.

Appealing to the President of Azerbaijan and the Parliament, the Center asks to remove this article from the draft law and ensure the rights of the believers. The Centre will call the public and civil society structures to render assistance, to exclude the bill which violates human being.

According to Shamsaddin Hajiyev, the chairman of the Parliamentary Commission on Science and Education, nobody should carry the religious dress in the educational centres. Azerbaijan is a secular state and the religin is separate from the state.

Saida Hacamanli, a human right activist considers that the prohibition imposed on wearing the hijab, violates the rights of the believers and sees the serious danger.“A contradiction may occur in the country, if a ban is imposed on wearing the hijab. Believers may leave Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan will be dishonored, if its civil asks shelter from other countries,” Hojamanli said. According to Hojamanli, the developed countries do not impose the prohibition on wearing the hijab in education centres, and Azerbaijan should also use this experience.

Gunduz Ismaylov, the head of the Department of State Committee on Work with the Religious Structures of Azerbaijan stated to the Trend agency that everybody has the right of living and wearing in compliance with the demands of his religion in Azerbaijan. “There is a legislation in Azerbaijan which states the one uniform in education centres, and everybody should follow this legislation. It is not right to refer the issue as the religious problem and consider it as a violation of the freedom of conscience,” Ismaylov said.

In spite of human right activist Committee, the representative considers that the prohibition imposed on wearing the hijab will not cause any danger in the country.

Under the official information by the State Committee, 96% of Azerbaijani population makes the Muslims,out which 65% of them are shiits and the rest 35% are sunnits.

The current education bill of Azerbaijan was passed in 1992. Since 1995, the Parliament launched to develop a new bill, but no bill has been developed for the 12 years. The new bill is expected to be discussed during the Parliamentary session on 28 December.

According to the Article 18 of the Azerbaijani Constitution, the religion is separate from the state, all the religions are equal before law and the state educational system carries a secular character.

Temporary hijab ban in Edmonton

Temporary hijab ban in Edmonton

A Muslim female soccer team in Edmonton has had to postpone all their games until the Alberta Soccer Association makes a final decision on players wearing headscarves on the field.

Half the girls on the Al-Ikhwat team wear a hijab, a headscarf worn by some Muslim females in keeping with their belief of dressing modestly.

The provincial association has temporarily banned players from wearing hijabs on the pitch after a referee asked a 14-year-old girl to leave a game in Calgary last month. He said her headscarf posed a safety risk.

‘They don’t know how it’s like to run or to exercise or to be physically active with a hijab on.’—Amereen Chowdhury, soccer player

The Alberta Soccer Association follows international rules that forbid all headgear, including sweatbands, but said it will review safety issues before making a final ruling on hijabs.

Amereen Chowdhury, a Grade 12 student who’s played with the team for a year and a half wearing her hijab, says it’s not dangerous.

“Talk to us directly. Ask us what it’s like so we can show then that it’s not a dangerous issue. Our hijabs don’t have pins in it and they are tucked into our jersey,” she told CBC News.

“This is basically a lack of knowledge on their behalf because they don’t know how it’s like to run or to exercise or to be physically active with a hijab on.”

The team plays in the Edmonton and District Soccer Association’s indoor league. Mike Thorne, the group’s executive director, said women wearing hijabs have been playing in Edmonton for more than seven years without any problems.

The EDSA is disappointed the team has been sidelined, Thome said.

“We feel a great deal of remorse over accepting this team into our program and having their expectations shot down by Alberta Soccer, and we hope this ruling will get reversed and they can go back to playing the game they love.”

The earliest Alberta soccer officials are expected to meet on the hijab issue is mid-December.

Soccer associations in B.C. and Ontario have made exceptions for hijabs while Quebec has banned it.

cbc-Canada

Hijab in Europe- 8 minute short film

Enough is enough

VIP apparatchiks

 

“Injustice anywhere,” said Martin Luther King, “is a threat to justice everywhere.”

Therefore the world should learn and care about the story of Tevhide Kütük, the 17-year-old Turkish schoolgirl who just became the latest victim of Turkey´s self-styled apartheid.

It all started several months ago in Kozan, a municipality in the southern city of Adana. The young and bright Tevhide, a student of the state-sponsored quasi-religious “Imam-Hatip” schools, heard about the essay contest that the Education Ministry launched to celebrate the annual Teacher´s Day. She wrote a fine piece on the virtues of teaching, and submitted it to the organizing committee.

Soon the jury decided that she was the best writer among all the other students in her hometown, and thus she deserved to win the award, which was a very modest present by all standards, but a very inspiring reward for a modest teenager.

VIP apparatchiks:

On Nov. 28, Teacher´s day, Tehvide, along with other winners in poetry and painting, was invited to a ceremony at the town hall. She, of course, accepted the invitation and showed up on that day with all her enthusiasm.

After some boring speeches by the usual dignitaries, the winners of the contests were called to the stage.

With joyful music playing in the background, Tevhide cheerfully climbed the steps and exuberantly lined up with other kids in order to be congratulated and applauded.

Yet things were not destined to go right. In the VIP seats, there were a bunch of sinister men whose loyalty to tyrannical state principles exceeded their respect and care for human beings.

The moment they saw Tevhide, they were shocked and abhorred. Because the little girl was wearing the Islamic headscarf!

In official Turkey, that symbol only belongs to the untouchables, those who pollute the sacred soil of the secular republic with their offensive religious presence.

Especially army commander, Major Hüseyin Çopur, and local governor, Aydın Tetikoğlu, were deeply affronted by this little girl who dared to break the rules of the caste system.

The outlaw had to be punished, and law and order had to be restored. So, after less than a minute that little Tevhide took stage, these two men ? one in uniform, the other in unimind ? took a quick measure to save the secular republic from her.

“Take her down,” they told their aides. And a man in a black suit approached Tevhide to whisper into her ear that she had to leave the stage immediately.

She was shocked for a few seconds, and then rapidly moved away while bursting into tears. Local TV cameras were shooting the whole event. Somewhere at the back, Tevhide cried for minutes and minutes, while her parents and friends tried to calm her down.

But she neither calmed down nor decided to give up. She walked again toward the front seats, in order to speak to the VIP men. She stood right in front of the national education director. “Why don´t you give me my award, my teacher,” she asked. “This is a great injustice.”

The “teacher” ? a man with a thick mustache and apparently a thin conscience ? just looked at her with a humiliating face. “No,” he ordered, “just get back to your seat!”

There was nothing he could do, actually. As a loyal apparatchik, he was only following orders. Tevhide, who was still crying, left the hall along with her family and many other people who reacted against this official injustice.

Days have passed since that episode and the family says that the young girl is still very sad and they fear that she might get into depression.

Even if she doesn´t, she will probably remember this trauma for the rest of her life. And not just her, but millions of others in this country who cover their heads because their beliefs will continue to feel insulted and humiliated.

Shame, not happiness:

The weekly humor magazine “Leman” has a great cover this week, with the title “The tears of a young girl” and a cartoon that shows the poor Tevhide being kicked by a huge army boot. (Leman is a secular magazine, by the way. It is just non-fascist.)

I think this caricature is a very accurate depiction of not just Tevhide´s drama, but also the whole apartheid regime in this country, which is, despite all our democratic achievements, still intact.

This has to end. Now is the time for freedom for all Turkish citizens, whatever their creed, langue and way of life may be.

The unelected and self-appointed VIP´s of Turkey have to accept a “freedom chart” similar to the one that their ilk in South Africa had to concede in the ´90s.

Enough is enough. If they insist on preserving this system of organized injustice, then they will be undermining the very foundation of this country: The consent of the citizens.

I have to admit that I am already shaky in that regard. I love Turkey with all its history, people, and culture, but I can´t find a way to sympathize with its authoritarian state. It really doesn´t help much to reiterate Atatürk´s motto, “How happy is the one who says I am a Turk.” I do say that I am a Turk, but that hardly gives me happiness.

In fact, when I see all the cruelties done in this country to its people by its sovereigns, it even gives me shame.

Mustafa Akyol

Turkish Daily News

Muslim Student in Tears – Tragedy in Turkey

MEPs condemn latest ‘headscarf incident’
Cem Özdemir and Joost Lagendijk, the first members of the European Parliament (MEPs) to speak of the headscarf issue in European Union documents, have offered their opinions on an incident in which a girl was forced to leave the stage of her high school while waiting to receive a prize because she was wearing a headscarf.

Tevhide Kütük was in tears after she was forced to step down due to her headscarf.

Schoolgirl Tevhide Kütük was forced to step down from the stage of her high school after a military commander and the governor of the province shouted that she be removed, apparently due to her wearing a headscarf.

While German Greens MEP Özdemir said the reaction was a mistake, Turkey-EU Joint Parliamentary Committee Co-Chairman Lagendijk stated that he had no sympathy for such actions.

Stressing that there was no problem whatsoever among people on the headscarf issue, Özdemir said: “As in most cases, when the state intervenes, a non-issue becomes an issue. The headscarf was not a problem among the people until the state started to handle it.” Özdemir underlined that it was not possible to condone the governor and the military commander’s reaction to Tevhide. “If the objective is to fight fundamentalism, the state is doing the exact opposite. By these sorts of reactions, they actually help feed and strengthen fundamentalism” he said.

Though Lagendijk was categorically against the governor and commander’s reaction, he was more confused about how he himself should react. “I have no sympathy for this ruthless action but at the same time it is a difficult issue for me to judge. I always supported the right of girls to go to universities with headscarves but for minors going to schools with headscarves, I have a slight problem,” he said. Lagendijk stated that forcing Tevhide from the stage was absolutely the wrong way to deal with the issue, however he was concerned about whether or not those minors were forced to wear headscarves by their parents.

Özdemir and Lagendijk proposed an amendment dealing with the headscarf problem to Camiel Eurlings’ report on Turkey. Despite objections from the Christian Democrats, the amendment was accepted, making it the first time in EU history the headscarf problem was mentioned. Both the European Parliament and the European Commission have consistently dealt with religious freedom in Turkey, but insistently turned a blind eye to the problems the Sunni majority faces in respect to religious freedom.

Student in tears

On Nov. 24, during a program organized in the Kozan district of Adana to commemorate Teachers’ Day, 16-year-old Tevhide from Kozan’s imam hatip school (a vocational religious educational establishment) was forced leave the stage in tears, while waiting to receive a prize. The student, wearing a headscarf, had been waiting to receive a prize for her composition, “It Must Be Such a Teacher,” when the religious city’s director of education, Mutlu Canbolat, removed her from the stage. Canbolat acted upon the cries of “Get that off the stage!” from Garrison Commander Maj. Hüseyin Çopur and Kozan Governor Aydın Tetikoğlu. In tears, Tevhide asked Canbolat why he was pulling her off the stage. The entire audience, consisting of teachers and students and their families, joined Tevhide and left the hall immediately. The Turkish Folk Music Ensemble then performed to an empty house.

01.12.2007
SELÇUK GÜLTAŞLI BRUSSELS

Today’s Zaman

Veiled presenters a ‘no-show’ on Moroccan TV

RABAT (Hassan al-Ashraf, AlArabiya.net)

The firing of three veiled presenters from Moroccan radio station Casa FM has highlighted the issue of an implicit ban being slapped on veiled women working in different media outlets in the Arab country.

Veiled TV presenter Samia Al-Maghrawy said her seniors started treating her differently when she donned the veil: “They seemed to be embarrassed of me and stopped assigning me out-of-country work.”

“To save my face and avoid troubles with the administration, I decided to work in the editorial board so that I would not have to be on screen.

Media woman Wafaa Al-Hamry accused the government of applying double standards in the way it deals with this issue: “There is no law banning a veiled woman from having an on-screen job, but when she applies, and even though she might have all the qualifications, she doesn’t get the job,” she told AlArabiya.net.

All veiled women who work in the media, Al-Hamry adds, know that they will only be allowed to work as editors or directors, “anything behind the screen”.

Media expert Yehia al-Yehiawy is surprised at the ban since the media is supposed to enjoy freedom and diversity.

In an interview with Al-Arabiya.net, Yehiawy said that most Moroccan public channels want to convey their own ideologies that, in turn, will have an effect on the audience. A veiled presenter might not serve this strategy.

For Yehiawy, the ban will lead to more polarity: “One group will promote a media dedicated to dancing and singing and all cheap commercial aspects that seek fast gain, while the other will think of the media as only a means of conveying social and religious messages.”

Writer Aziz Bakoush told AlArabiya.net that the veil phenomenon is new to Moroccan media: “It is mainly related to Islamizing politics or political Islam.”

“Some Arab countries — and Morocco is one of them — deal with the veil as a sign of extremism,” he adds.

“The ban solution is very Arab, and the problem is that there are no clear laws that define the boundaries. Banning, regardless of what is being banned, was never a good idea.”

Bakoush poses a series of questions in this regard: “What kind of veil do we mean? Is it the Afghani face veil or the Iranian shadour? Is it the Sarajevo veil? Or is it Moroccan and North African veil with a head scarf and skin-tight jeans?”

(Translated from Arabic by Sonia Farid)

Al Arabiya 

Ban on Hijab in the Third Large City of Belgium

In Gent, third large city of Belgium, the ban has been imposed on wearing hijab (headscarf). Ban concerns representatives of state structures communicating with population. City Council approved this ban November 28 (26 “for”, 23 “against”). However, it is not clear how to define this category of “representatives communicating with population”, said chairman of administration. Accordingly to him, women in hijab will be proposed another job. Law will concern teachers and policemen.
As IslamOnline informs the same year the second largest Belgian city, Antwerp, adopted the similar law.
European campaign relating to hijab started in 2004, when France banned wearing headscarf in schools and institutes. Since then many countries followed Paris.
Out of 10 mln. Belgians, 450,000 are Muslims.

www.islam.ru

demaz.org 

Soccer officials defend hijab ruling

CALGARY — Alberta soccer officials are defending a decision by a referee to eject a teenage girl from an indoor soccer game in Calgary because of her religious head scarf.

The girl, 14, was not allowed to play in the game on Saturday while she was wearing a hijab.

Gary Roy, a spokesman for the Alberta Soccer Association, says the decision wasn’t based on any religious issue. Speaking on an Alberta radio talk show yesterday, Roy said the girl was at risk of choking or hurting her neck if her scarf had been grabbed.

He also said international soccer rules ban wearing anything that could cause injury to players.

Earlier this month, an 11-year-old girl left a Winnipeg judo tournament in tears when officials refused to let her fight while wearing a hijab.

Edmonton Sun

Canada.com

Muslim soccer player allowed to play after fashioned her Hijab into Bandanna

 

Jamie Komarnicki , Calgary Herald

Published: Saturday, December 01, 2007

Calgary Herald

A loophole in the laws of the game allowed a 14-year-old Muslim girl to take the field with her soccer team today, one week after referees told her she couldn’t play while wearing a hijab.

Safaa Menhem fashioned her hijab into a bandanna to help her Chinook Phantom under-16 girls team to a 4-1 victory at the Calgary Soccer Centre today.

“I was happy I was able to play,” said Safaa, grinning broadly as she came off the pitch arm in arm with beaming teammates.

Safaa wasn’t allowed to finish a game last Saturday after a referee told her coach she couldn’t play if she wore a hijab.

On Friday, the Alberta Soccer Association advised its referees not to let players wear a hijab during a game. It’s an interim decision while they come up with a clear rule in the coming weeks.

But tying the headscarf so that it is fashioned at the back of her head rather than draped around the front of her neck satisfied the safety component of the rules, said Gary Roy, the former referee development officer who helped come up with the “Band-Aid” solution.

“We were trying to come up with a solution to help her conform to the safety issue,” said Roy.
“It respects the Alberta Soccer Association ruling and at the same time gets the girl on the field to play,” he said.
Bandannas are generally not allowed on the field, unless deemed medically necessary by each individual referee, or, in this case, for religious reasons, said Roy.
jkomarnicki@theherald.canwest.com

Calgary Herald