March 24, 2006
A British girl lost a legal battle on Wednesday to be allowed to wear full Islamic dress in school in a case which has been likened to the row in France over the wearing of Muslim headscarves. 17-year-old Shabina Begum was sent home from school in September 2002 with an order that she change her clothes after she turned up in a jilbab, a gown that covers the body, leaving only the face and hands exposed. In March last year, an appeals court ruled that the ban breached her human rights. But Begum's school in North London appealed this decision and was backed by Britain's highest court, the House of Lords, on Wednesday. The student's family had known what the school's uniform policy was when it enrolled her and should have chosen a different school if they objected to it, the Law Lords ruled. Shabina said she was disappointed by the ruling, but proud to have taken issue with a ban that she and others among Britain's 1,6-million-strong Muslim population regarded as a breach of their right.
