Saudi grand mufti hits veil ban; injustice in Peterborough

By: Abdulali/ Noman Haider

HOLY CITY OF MECCA/ PETERBOROUGH: Saudi Arabia's top religious authority called an “infringement on human rights” the French plan to pass a law banning the headscarf in state schools, separately a Muslim teenager told a court in Peterborough how a senior teacher at her high school insulted her religion after pulling an Islamic scarf from her head.

During a meeting Monday night with Saudi academics in this holy city, grand mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz al-Sheikh said: “Interfering in the affairs of Muslims regarding the headscarf is an infringement on the human rights that they (French) say they are defending.”

He said the country was more concerned with the rights of nudists than Muslims.

One week ago, the outspoken mufti poured scorn on women who appeared unveiled at a recent economic conference in the western port city of Jeddah.

The teenager, who was 15 at the time of the incident, said Hazel Dick, head of science at Bretton Woods Community School in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, yanked off her headscarf then told her: “Your religion is one big joke.” Dick, 43, has been charged with aggravated assault, which she denies.

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