This week, Muzzammil Hassan changes his defense and says he was the victim; Pakistani scientist Aafia Siddiqui is on trial in New York for shooting at U.S. officials while in custody in Afghanistan; a limited burqa ban in France may be easier to pass on the grounds of security than a total ban; and a Malaysian court ends the ban of book on challenges facing Muslim women.
On Friday, Muzzammil Hassan, the man accused of beheading his wife, fired his attorney of one year, reports CBS News. He has also changed his defense, which was to be rejected, of emotional disturbance to being a battered spouse himself. The case has been delayed as a result of the change in defense.
CNN reports that suspected Al-Qaeda member, Aafia Siddiqui, an American-educated Pakistani neuroscientist is on trial in New York for allegedly shooting at U.S. officers when in custody in Afghanistan on July 18, 2008. Siddiqui was escorted out of court last Tuesday for shouting that a witness was lying while court was in session. Her son and countless supporters have held rallies for her release in Karachi, Pakistan.
Lawmakers could be closer to drafting a bill banning the burqa in select public places, reports the New York Times. A limited ban for purposes of security in public institutions like post offices, schools, banks, and hospitals may be legally justified argues public law expert Denys de Bechillon. Whereas a total ban, he says, could be unconstitutional or even a human rights violation.
Malaysian court ends the ban on a book about the challenges faced by Muslim women reports the New York Times. Muslim Women and the Challenges of Islamic Extremism was published in 2005 by a Malaysian nongovernmental organization, Sisters in Islam, and was later banned by the Ministry of Home Affairs in 2008 on the grounds that it may confuse women and it was “prejudicial to public order.” Justice Mohamad Ariff Yusof said on Monday that he failed to find any evidence to support the case made by the Ministry of Home Affairs of the book’s promotion of the disruption of public order.
Shazia Riaz is Associate Editor of Altmuslimah.
