The French Supreme Court sets a precedent sustaining a ban on barristers wearing the hijab and other religious symbols in courtrooms in the north.
30-year-old hijab-wearing French Syrian lawyer, Sarah Asmeta, brought the case to challenge a rule set by the Bar Council of Lille, banning allegedly discriminatory religious signs in its courtrooms. Asmeta challenged this rule, calling it targeted and discriminatory
The Supreme Court sustained the ban and justified it in its ruling as "necessary and appropriate, on the one hand to preserve the independence of the lawyer and, on the other, to guarantee the right to a fair trial." It added that banning the wearing of religious symbols "does not constitute discrimination."
Asmeta was shocked and disappointed with the ruling, she said:
Why does covering my hair stop my client from the right to a free trial? My clients are not children. If they choose me as their lawyer, with my veil, then it is their choice.
Asmeta had lost the case in an appeals court in 2020 and pushed the matter up to the Court of Cassation. She said she was contemplating taking her fight to the European Court of Human Rights.
Slim Ben Achour, a lawyer specialising in discrimination, said such bans were hypocritical.
It is not possible that we, lawyers, the defenders of rights, or at least that is how we sell ourselves, block Muslim women [from practising].
