A Muslim woman ordered to remove her nikab when she gives evidence in a Perth fraud trial says she accepts the court ruling.
She said she had only wanted to dress as she normally does in front of strangers, wearing the head-to-toe nikab.
District Court judge Shauna Deane yesterday ruled the jury should be given the opportunity to see 36-year-old Tasneem’s face and demeanour to help them assess the reliability and credibility of her testimony.
She said it had been a matter of balancing the right of an accused person to a fair trial and Tasneem’s “strongly held view and long-term practice” of wearing the nikab and “genuine reasons” why she did not want to remove it.
“The trial process must be fair to all concerned,” she said. “This, regrettably, at times may result in a degree of distress to individuals . . . that is the nature of the process.”
Judge Deane stressed her ruling applied only to this case and did not set a precedent.
Tasneem is a witness in the trial of Anwar Sayed, who is accused of defrauding the commonwealth and state of up to $752,000 in grants while principal of Perth’s Muslim Ladies College in 2006. Tasneem was a teacher there.
Yesterday, she said she appreciated her request to wear her nikab in court had stirred intense public debate. “However, I would emphasise that this was not a demand. I merely asked to dress as I normally would in front of people I do not know.” She said wearing the nikab liberated her and banning full body coverings would be a backward step.
Mr Sayed’s barrister, Mark Trowell, had raised concerns about the impact on the jury if Tasneem wore her nikab during evidence.
But the prosecution argued she had worn it for 17-18 years and essentially only took it off in front of family. They warned she would be so distressed, if made to remove the garment, that it could affect her ability to give evidence and nothing would be gained from seeing her face.
Outside court, Mr Sayed said he was concerned at how the ruling may affect Tasneem and claimed the objections to the nikab had come from Mr Trowell only.