Egypt’s High Administrative Court approved on Monday Cairo University’s decision to ban its professors from wearing the niqab, or face veil, ending a controversy that began five years ago over whether or not banning the niqab in public spaces violates personal freedoms or constitutes religious discrimination. The university justified the decision to ban the face veil by arguing that niqab negatively impacts the ability of women who wear it to communicate. The court further explained that the allowance of the niqab violates article 96 of the law regulating universities across Egypt, which binds university staff to university rules. By 2012, Egypt’s minister of higher education said that female students wearing face veils should no longer be banned from sitting for their university exams. Instead, students wearing the niqab would be allowed to take their exams after their identities are checked by a female staff member.

Source: Egypt Independent January 27, 2020 14:48 UTC