Free choice and its discontents: Germany debates Muslim women’s attire

What is the meaning of the religious attire worn by some Muslim women? Are hijab and niqab hallmarks of the retrograde nature of Islam? Do they signal radicalisation and submission to male patriarchy – or self-determination and individual empowerment? These questions have been ceaselessly debated across Europe for years. In Germany, a new round of…

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Bavarian court upholds hijab ban in the judiciary

Germany’s long-running judicial wrangling over the ability of Muslim women to wear the hijab in public employment has been enriched by a further episode. The Bavarian Administrative Court in Munich decreed that prohibitions banning court personnel from wearing the Islamic headcovering were permissible. Decisions based on formal criteria The case concerns a legal trainee who,…

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I know Abu Qatada – he’s no terrorist by Victoria Brittain

The voluntary departure from Britain of Omar Othman, better known as Abu Qatada, is a triumph for the independence of the judiciary over this and previous governments’ high-profile attempts to send him to face a trial in Jordan, where the evidence against him was obtained by torture. Our judiciary has safeguarded a prominent political refugee…

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Muslim groups react against the extradition of five Muslim suspect to the US

06 October 2012   On the 5th of October, Abu Hamza and four Muslims suspects were extradited to the US under terrorism charges. The group arrived in New York this week and the US attorney office in New York has said they would appear before court soon. Abu Hamza faces eleven charges in the US…

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Justice of the Peace for Muslims

May 4   The term Justice of the Peace is used to define informal judges, who neither have been trained as lawyers, nor act within the legal framework of German judiciary. The Justice of Peace act as brokers and mediate between rivaling families, victims and delinquents to avoid violence and bloodshed. For instance when an…

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