Freedom of Dress Code

A high court legal ruling in Egypt. BBC:

A committee of the High Administrative Court upheld a 2001 court ruling that the university could not ban Iman al-Zainy from wearing the niqab as it was a matter of personal and religious freedom under law.

The American University (AUC) said some of the principles in the court's ruling appeared to support its position and it was discussing this with lawyers. It said it had sought the ban out of security concerns. "While the American University in Cairo has a policy prohibiting face covering as an issue of personal safety and security, it also recognises the need for respect for the religious values and convictions of our students," the AUC said.

The ruling does let the university place some restrictions on the niqab, court sources told Reuters news agency. Female students could be required to show their faces to security guards at university entrances.

And this gem:

Hossam Bahgat, one of Ms Zainy's lawyers, told Reuters news agency the ruling was a victory for "women's autonomy over their body and dress code". "The court said in the strongest of terms that it is up to women to decide about their clothing, and that women should not be discriminated against because of the clothes that they choose to wear," he said.

A depth of freedom indeed to wear "clothes" that serve as a shroud for most other personal freedoms we in the West take for granted.

Postscript: A niqab is a variation of a burka. Let's watch this one more time, what we have wrought in Afghanistan. Remember? (Please sir, we want more)