By Justin Dorman
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East
CAIRO, Egypt – Eman Abu Bakar, a teacher in the Luxor province of Egypt, recently cut the hair of two schoolgirls as punishment for not covering their heads. Abu Bakar has since been transferred to another school and been docked a month’s payment. The father of one of the girls has filed a complaint against the teacher with the prosecutor’s office in Luxor. Zakaria Abdel Fatah, head of the state’s Education Directorate in Luxor, has also referred the teacher for administrative prosecution.
While Abu Bakar wore a niqab, a garment that covers everything but the woman’s eyes, all she required out of her students was a hijab, or headscarf. According to Berbesh Khairi el-Rawi, father to one of the girls, she made the girls stand in class with their hands above their heads for two hours. During that time, she would repeatedly warn them to cover their heads. Eventually a student would reach into his bag for scissors and would urge Abu Bakar to “implement” her threats. The teacher claims that her cuts “did not exceed two centimeters.”
“Whether in schools or outside schools, the general sentiment is that any abusive action, if it is justified as protection of Islam, is tolerable,” says Ziad Abdel Tawab of the Cairo Institute for Human Rights.
In Egyptian public schools, girls are not required to wear some kind of Islamic veil. Education Minister Ibrahim Ghoneim insists that wearing such a garment is a personal choice. Nevertheless, corporal punishment still occurs quite frequently, and Ghoneim supports it as long as it is not too severe. Such actions were not uncommon under “[f]ormer president Anwar Sadat [who] allowed Islamists to delve freely in the cultural and social arenas in return for confronting leftists and Nasserists,” said Kamal Moghith, an expert at the National Center of Education Research and Development. “Since then, the Muslim Brotherhood have been trying to intervene in education, both in syllabi and administration,” he claimed.
This incident arose during a time of serious debate about the role religion will play in Egypt’s new constitution. The panel tasked with drafting the constitution is largely Islamic, which has scared many liberals and Coptic Christians. At this time, there has also been a great increase in the amount of Christians who have been brought to trial for allegedly showing contempt for religion.
One such Coptic Christian on trial is twenty-seven year old Alber Saber Ayad. He was arrested after his neighbors told the authorities that he posted the “Innocence of Muslims” film to his Facebook page. While he was detained, he was beaten and cut with a razor blade. Despite the accusations against him, investigators were unable to find any trace of the video. Nevertheless, Saber faces a six-year prison sentence and a fine of five hundred Egyptian pounds for the charge of “defamation of religion.”
“Criticism of religions and other beliefs and ideas is a vital component of the right to freedom of expression,” claims Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui of Amnesty International.
For further information, please see:
Al Arabiya – Egypt Teacher Cuts Hair of Schoolgirls for not Wearing Muslim Headscarf – 17 October 2012
AnsaMed – Egypt: Teacher Cuts off Students’ Hair for not Wearing Hijab – 17 October 2012
Egypt Independent – Update: Teacher Faces Discipline for Cutting Unveiled Pupils’ Hair – 17 October 2012
Guardian – Egyptian Teacher ‘cut Hair of Schoolgirls who Refused to Cover Heads’ – 17 October 2012
Amnesty International – Egypt Must Release man on Trial for Criticizing Religion – 16 October 2012
