CAIRO // The Cairo Administrative Court yesterday upheld the decision of the higher education minister, Hany Helal, and heads of three universities to bar women who cover their faces with a niqab from sitting in this month's mid-year exams.
Hundreds of students had held a three-day protest in December at several universities against the original decision.
"I filed a lawsuit to stop this decision last month, saying that female guards at the university can check the identity and face of the munaqaba [niqab-wearer] student," said Nizar Ghorab, an Islamist lawyer. "Associating between cheating and a dress code is wrong, as cheating takes place regardless of the kind of clothes, even pants or T-shirts were used in cheating. There won't be a decree banning them. The same thing applies to the scarf or face veil," Mr Ghorab wrote in the case filed on behalf of 55 niqab-wearing university students.
The case was filed against the higher education minister and the heads of Cairo, Ain Shams and Helwan universities, the sheikh of Al Azhar, the grand mufti and the minister of religious affairs, Mohammed Hamdi Zaqzouq.
Sheikh Mohammed Sayyed Tantawi, the grand imam of Al Azhar, banned the niqab in Al Azhar classrooms and dormitories after he forced a 12-year-old to remove her niqab. He said it did not matter as she was in a classroom full of girls and her school was run by women only.
In the case, Mr Ghorab said he was suing "the official religious institutions because they ignited the war on the niqab, first when the ministry of religious affairs printed thousands of copies of a booklet titled Niqab is a Habit not Ritual, and then in the sheikh of Al Azhar's anti-niqab stance".
"I believe the decision of barring munaqaba students from attending their exams amounts to rape and harassment, as they are forcing the female students of revealing a part of their bodies that they don't want to show, against their will," Mr Ghorab said after the administrative court's verdict was announced yesterday.
He said he would appeal the ruling to the Higher Administrative Court. Mr Ghorab also said Amal Lotfy, a plaintiff in the case, filed a complaint at a police station yesterday after she was barred from attending an exam at the commerce faculty of Ain Shams University, even after she wore a medical mask instead of her niqab.
"If I have to choose between my niqab and the test, I will chose my niqab," Noha Ahmed Eid, 18, a medical student at Cairo University and a plaintiff in the case, said yesterday.
"For me, my niqab is my religion, and I'm taking it to imitate the wives of the Prophet, so to ask me now to take it off to attend the exam is like asking me to be naked in the exam hall," she added. Ms Eid started wearing the niqab when she was 14.
"The war against the niqab is just the beginning of a war on different aspects of Islam. The state, which is supposed to be Islamic, should go back to Islam, not fight it," Ms Eid said. She said she felt very comfortable keeping her "face, body and beauty" to herself. This is also my personal freedom, and they should respect it and not try to take it away from me.
"I will pray to God to find a way out, that this decision will be dropped, before my exams start on January 24."
Yesterday's court decision cuts to the heart of a growing gulf in Egyptian society between those concerned about the continuing rise of religious conservatism and those who believe Egypt has yielded for too long to western secularism.
About 90 per cent of Muslim Egyptian women are veiled, although only a minority don the full face veil, but the number is growing.
In January, a Cairo court is expected to hear a case filed by several women activists against Safwat Hegazy, a fanatic satellite preacher, who recently said that "munaqabat should ignore calls for taking off their face veil" and described as "whores" the women who are not veiled or wearing niqab.
@Email:nmagd@thenational.ae
More on animal trafficking
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In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
Washmen Profile
Date Started: May 2015
Founders: Rami Shaar and Jad Halaoui
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Laundry
Employees: 170
Funding: about $8m
Funders: Addventure, B&Y Partners, Clara Ventures, Cedar Mundi Partners, Henkel Ventures
At a glance
- 20,000 new jobs for Emiratis over three years
- Dh300 million set aside to train 18,000 jobseekers in new skills
- Managerial jobs in government restricted to Emiratis
- Emiratis to get priority for 160 types of job in private sector
- Portion of VAT revenues will fund more graduate programmes
- 8,000 Emirati graduates to do 6-12 month replacements in public or private sector on a Dh10,000 monthly wage - 40 per cent of which will be paid by government
Company%20profile
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MATCH INFO
Euro 2020 qualifier
Russia v Scotland, Thursday, 10.45pm (UAE)
TV: Match on BeIN Sports
Prop idols
Girls full-contact rugby may be in its infancy in the Middle East, but there are already a number of role models for players to look up to.
Sophie Shams (Dubai Exiles mini, England sevens international)
An Emirati student who is blazing a trail in rugby. She first learnt the game at Dubai Exiles and captained her JESS Primary school team. After going to study geophysics at university in the UK, she scored a sensational try in a cup final at Twickenham. She has played for England sevens, and is now contracted to top Premiership club Saracens.
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Seren Gough-Walters (Sharjah Wanderers mini, Wales rugby league international)
Few players anywhere will have taken a more circuitous route to playing rugby on Sky Sports. Gough-Walters was born in Al Wasl Hospital in Dubai, raised in Sharjah, did not take up rugby seriously till she was 15, has a master’s in global governance and ethics, and once worked as an immigration officer at the British Embassy in Abu Dhabi. In the summer of 2021 she played for Wales against England in rugby league, in a match that was broadcast live on TV.
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Erin King (Dubai Hurricanes mini, Ireland sevens international)
Aged five, Australia-born King went to Dubai Hurricanes training at The Sevens with her brothers. She immediately struck up a deep affection for rugby. She returned to the city at the end of last year to play at the Dubai Rugby Sevens in the colours of Ireland in the Women’s World Series tournament on Pitch 1.
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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The specs
Engine: 2-litre or 3-litre 4Motion all-wheel-drive Power: 250Nm (2-litre); 340 (3-litre) Torque: 450Nm Transmission: 8-speed automatic Starting price: From Dh212,000 On sale: Now
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
The biog
Name: Salvador Toriano Jr
Age: 59
From: Laguna, The Philippines
Favourite dish: Seabass or Fish and Chips
Hobbies: When he’s not in the restaurant, he still likes to cook, along with walking and meeting up with friends.
RESULTS
Light Flyweight (48kg): Alua Balkibekova (KAZ) beat Gulasal Sultonalieva (UZB) by points 4-1.
Flyweight (51kg): Nazym Kyzaibay (KAZ) beat Mary Kom (IND) 3-2.
Bantamweight (54kg): Dina Zholaman (KAZ) beat Sitora Shogdarova (UZB) 3-2.
Featherweight (57kg): Sitora Turdibekova (UZB) beat Vladislava Kukhta (KAZ) 5-0.
Lightweight (60kg): Rimma Volossenko (KAZ) beat Huswatun Hasanah (INA) KO round-1.
Light Welterweight (64kg): Milana Safronova (KAZ) beat Lalbuatsaihi (IND) 3-2.
Welterweight (69kg): Valentina Khalzova (KAZ) beat Navbakhor Khamidova (UZB) 5-0
Middleweight (75kg): Pooja Rani (IND) beat Mavluda Movlonova (UZB) 5-0.
Light Heavyweight (81kg): Farida Sholtay (KAZ) beat Ruzmetova Sokhiba (UZB) 5-0.
Heavyweight (81 kg): Lazzat Kungeibayeva (KAZ) beat Anupama (IND) 3-2.
Women%E2%80%99s%20T20%20World%20Cup%20Qualifier
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How much sugar is in chocolate Easter eggs?
- The 169g Crunchie egg has 15.9g of sugar per 25g serving, working out at around 107g of sugar per egg
- The 190g Maltesers Teasers egg contains 58g of sugar per 100g for the egg and 19.6g of sugar in each of the two Teasers bars that come with it
- The 188g Smarties egg has 113g of sugar per egg and 22.8g in the tube of Smarties it contains
- The Milky Bar white chocolate Egg Hunt Pack contains eight eggs at 7.7g of sugar per egg
- The Cadbury Creme Egg contains 26g of sugar per 40g egg
Six pitfalls to avoid when trading company stocks
Following fashion
Investing is cyclical, buying last year's winners often means holding this year's losers.
Losing your balance
You end up with too much exposure to an individual company or sector that has taken your fancy.
Being over active
If you chop and change your portfolio too often, dealing charges will eat up your gains.
Running your losers
Investors hate admitting mistakes and hold onto bad stocks hoping they will come good.
Selling in a panic
If you sell up when the market drops, you have locked yourself out of the recovery.
Timing the market
Even the best investor in the world cannot consistently call market movements.
MATCH INFO
Group B
Bayern Munich v Tottenham, midnight (Thursday)
Company%20Profile
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If you go...
Etihad flies daily from Abu Dhabi to Zurich, with fares starting from Dh2,807 return. Frequent high speed trains between Zurich and Vienna make stops at St. Anton.
Biog
Mr Kandhari is legally authorised to conduct marriages in the gurdwara
He has officiated weddings of Sikhs and people of different faiths from Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Russia, the US and Canada
Father of two sons, grandfather of six
Plays golf once a week
Enjoys trying new holiday destinations with his wife and family
Walks for an hour every morning
Completed a Bachelor of Commerce degree in Loyola College, Chennai, India
2019 is a milestone because he completes 50 years in business
