Legal Commentary

Man Stabbed in Australia, Apparently Because He Was a Criminal Defendant Who Objected to a Witness?s Testifying While Veiled

By Eugene Volokh

WA Today reports:

The man whose trial has led to controversy over the wearing of a Muslim headscarf in court has been ?brutally stabbed? after being stopped in his car, his lawyer says.

Anwar Sayed, who a court yesterday heard had received written and verbal death threats for supposedly agitating to abolish the wearing of a niqab, also known as a burqa, was allegedly attacked this morning....

Police spokesman Samuel Dinnison would not confirm the identity of the victim of the attack, but played it down saying the victim had only suffered ?minor injuries or a scratch?. ...

[A] lawyer for Mr Sayed, Andrew Skerritt, told AAP the incident related to the burqa debate....

A judge yesterday reserved her decision over whether a witness in the fraud trial could testify wearing the niqab, which covers her entire face except for a small slit for her eyes.

Mr Sayed?s lawyers have argued her face should be uncovered so the jury can accurately assess her testimony....

For more on the case, see this earlier WA Today article. For posts about an American controversy related to witnesses and veils (though fortunately without a stabbing), see here. Thanks to Prof. Howard Friedman (Religion Clause) for the pointer.

Full post as published by The Volokh Conspiracy on August 06, 2010 (boomark / email).