Muslim woman required to remove niqab in order to testify against attackers

**Trigger warning - this post talks about sexual assault.

First off, let me start by saying that I am not Muslim. So right off the bat, if there are any corrections to terms or religious points I am more than happy to do so!

This article caught my eye in the National Post today with the headline After years and a sharply divided supreme court decision, judge rules woman must remove niqab to testify. To give you a quick rundown of the story, 30 years ago this woman was sexually assaulted by two men, and she began the process of trying to prosecute. The issue that has come out is that this woman wears a niqab (which covers the full face) which an Ontario judge feels would impede cross-examination. After a long time of deliberating they ruled that in order to testify against her attackers, this woman would have to break religious constraints and remove her niqab.

I am disgusted at the message this sends to Muslim women (and all women really) out there who have been sexually assaulted and are looking at prosecuting their attackers. The woman, now 37, would have been around seven years old at the time of her assault and has since chosen to wear this garb as a way of removing any sexual aspect from men that are not family. In a nutshell the deafening message is that in order to bring men to justice you will once again have to expose yourself in front of strangers.

I understand why they came to this conclusion – it’s very easy to hide emotional responses behind a face covering and could throw off the trial – for either side. What bothers me so incredibly much is that there was no alternative given. There was not the option to be interviewed without the face covering by a woman in a private room – it was simply you must expose yourself to a room full of strangers. I realize in western culture we’re accustomed to exposing our bodies and covering our faces is something that borders on strange for us. However, for someone not accustomed to that culture – exposing her face could feel like standing in a room naked. This woman was a victim of sexual assault, if anything the justice system should be making damn sure they treat her with respect and are aware of possible triggers.

The courage it takes to seek justice as a victim of sexual assault is enormous. I don’t that feeling personally, I can’t even imagine what it feels like, but I know that the courage to do something about it is massive. So why do we want to impress on Muslim women that if they want to seek justice they will be required to expose themselves? I just... for a good few minutes I didn't even have words. Sexual assault is absolutely terrible and leaves you at your most vulnerable – it entails someone exposing you without your consent and assaulting you. Why, why why whywhywhywhy would our justice system then turn around and expose them without their consent? It absolutely boggles my mind.

The woman’s lawyer has stated that they will be appealing this decision and for the sake of this woman, and the message it sends to other sexual assault (and any assault) victims – I hope they win.