A Moroccan-born trainee lawyer
ejected from a Bologna courtroom for wearing the Muslim veil but
later told she would be allowed back told ANSA Thursday she was
"shocked but happy" over the incident.
"When the judge said No to me I was shocked, but I'm happy
about what I did," said 25-year-old Asmae Belkafir, who was
forced to choose between taking off the veil or leaving the
regional administrative court (TAR).
Belkafir said she was "very much struck" by the many messages
of solidarity she had received.
"I was really upset, I had taken part in many hearings and
nothing of the kind had ever happened to me," Belkafir told
ANSA.
She said there had been a lot of comments on social media
about the norm banning covered heads that the TAR judge pinned
up outside the courtroom, and "many people are saying the judge
was right, but that's not so".
Belkafir, who is a trainee lawyer at a local university, said
"norms must be read, known and interpreted.
"This is a legal battle," she said.
Belkafir later emerged from a hearing of a Bologna civil
court and said "there as no problem, everything was OK today".
The TAR judge's ruling was implicitly challenged Wednesday by
Italy's highest administrative court, the Council of State, and
the trainee at the Università di Modena e Reggio Emilia was told
she could return to court with her hijab on.
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