A Muslim woman who refused to take off her burqa in court to give evidence in a civil case has failed to show at her own hearing today — a day after a judge refused to hear her evidence unless she revealed her face.
Moutia Elzahed, one of two women married to convicted criminal and Islamic extremist Hamdi Alqudsi, is suing the police alleging they punched her and called her a “bitch” during the Operation Applebyterrorism raids at her Revesby home on September 18, 2014.
In what lawyers believe is an Australian first, NSW District Court judge Audrey Balla would not let Ms Elzahed take the stand in the civil case while she wore her veil yesterday.
Ms Elzahed refused to take off her burqa and she failed to turn up to the fourth day of the hearing this morning.
Her lawyer Zali Burrows declined to say why Ms Elzahed did not appear.
Lawyer Clive Evatt yesterday told Judge Balla his client could not reveal her face to any man outside her family — for religious reasons.
Judge Balla said Ms Elzahed could have the court closed while she gave evidence or she could go to another room and give evidence via video link.
Mr Evatt declined both options because the mostly male legal counsels for both sides would still be able to see his client’s face.
Ms Elzahed also refused to stand for Judge Balla when the judicial officer entered and exited the court.
Outside court yesterday, Ms Elzahed told The Daily Telegraph “it is not fair” that she could not give evidence. Her refusal to take off the burqa is a blow to her case, which relied on her sworn testimony that she was punched by police during the dawn raid.
Ms Elzahed is seeking compensation for “assault and battery, wrongful arrest, false imprisonment and intimidation”.
She is joined in the lawsuit by her husband Hamdi Alqudsi and her sons Hamza George, 17, and Abdulla George, 17.
This morning, the court heard from a police officer Senior Constable Ashley McIntosh-Young who carried the ram and broke down the front door of the Revesby property.
He denied allegations he assaulted one of Ms Elzahed’s sons during the raid and that he called one of boys a terrorist.
Since the raid Alqudsi has been convicted of helping seven men travel to Syria to fight with Islamist rebels in the civil war. He was jailed for eight years with a non-parole period of six years.
In a statement of claim tendered to the court Ms Elzahed states she was “punched in the ear, eye and head”, causing her ear to bleed and she was handcuffed in a “brutal” and “hurtful” manner.
The federal and state governments, acting on behalf of Federal and NSW police, deny all allegations of police brutality, arguing officers used only reasonable force.
The former grand mufti of Australia Sheikh Fehmi el-Imam, who died in September, had ruled it is OK for Muslim women to remove burqas in court to give evidence.