http://watanpdf.alwatan.com.kw/alwatanPDF/WatanDaily/2012-11-07/1.pdf
Egyptian teacher sentenced in headscarf case LUXOR, Egypt: A teacher in southern Egypt was convicted of child abuse Tuesday and given a six-month suspended sentence, after she cut the hair of two schoolgirls for not wearing the traditional Muslim headscarf. The incident last month in the village of Qurna drew criticism from rights groups and local officials. The case is part of a larger debate in Egypt - the state of personal and religious freedoms following the rise of Islamist political movements. Eman Abu Bakar, the ultraconservative teacher, wears a niqab, which leaves only her eyes visible. She was initially transferred to another school as a rebuke. Then the father of one of the girls and a national center for children’s rights filed a complaint, accusing the teacher of abuse. Abu Bakar told local papers at the time that she resorted to cutting the girls’’ hair only after warning them repeatedly to cover their heads. The court also fined the teacher 8 US dollars. Most Muslim women in Egypt wear the traditional headscarf, but there is no legal requirement to do so. With the rise of Islamists to power following the ouster of longtime President Hosni Mubarak last year, many less religious Egyptians feared the Islamists, particularly the more radical groups, would push to impose a stricter social and dress code. Disputes over the role of Islam in the country’s new Constitution continue, pitting Christians and secular groups against Islamists seeking to increase the role of Islamic content in the charter, which is now being written. -AP [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
