From The Telegraph (UK)
Quebec judge tells claimant: ‘hats and sunglasses are not allowed, I don’t see why scarves on the head would be either’
A Quebec judge told a Muslim woman appearing in a Montreal courtroom she would not hear her case until she removed her head scarf.
The broadcaster, citing an audio recording it obtained of the proceedings, said Judge Eliana Marengo was heard telling Rania El-Alloul on Tuesday that the courtroom is a secular place, and that she was not suitably dressed.
“Hats and sunglasses for example, are not allowed. And I don’t see why scarves on the head would be either,” Marengo says in the recording.
Neither Quebec’s Ministry of Justice nor Judge Marengo could be reached for comment.
In an interview, Ms El-Alloul said she the incident made her “feel afraid” and that she was not being treated as “a human being”.
She said: “When I came the first day when I made landing in Canada, I was wearing my hijab.
“When I swore by God to be a good Canadian citizen I was wearing my hijab, and the judge, I shook hands with him the same day I became Canadian. I was really very happy. But what happened in court made me feel afraid. I felt that I’m not Canadian anymore.
“When she insisted I should remove my hijab, really I felt like she was talking with me as … not a human being. I don’t want this thing to happen to any other lady. This is not the work of a judge. She doesn’t deserve to be a judge.”
