25-year-old Susanna Ismailova from Bakhchisarai town is at law with the Interior Ministry of Ukraine in the Disrict Administrative court of Kyiv for her right to be photographed in a hijab – traditional scarf of Moslem women.
She was deprived this right in the passprot service office in Bakhchisarai when it was time to glue her photo in the passport upon the attainment of the age of 25. Notable, the passport service office in her former place of residence: Dzhankoi raion sanctioned Susanna to be photographed in the religious headscarf when she got the passport firstly, QHA news agency informs.
“I have already worn a hijab over ten years as the Holy Quran prescribes it for us. The clothes of Moslem woman must cover everything. Only face and hands can be naked. This is our way of life and we should have the right for that in the democratic country”, - told Ms. Ismailova.
Susanna gave recently birth to her third son and so she cannot present herself in the court sitting, therefore her interests in the court are defended by lawyer Enver Umerov.
“Intradepartmental instruction (the order №600 of the Interioir Ministry of Ukraine under which an individual must be in photo of the passport without headdress) does not meet the Law of Ukraine “Of freedom of conscience” and the Constitution. Therefore, not the Bakhchisarai raion militia department but Interior Ministry is defendant. The legal process will not be fast one since resolutions of the Supreme and Constitution courts will be needed to solve this collision”, - explained lawyer. According to Mr. Umerov, he tries to prove during the legal procedure that the hijab is not headdress, and it is integral part of clothes of the Moslem true beliver woman. He also will have to convince judges that a hijab does not impede to identify a person because many girls are photographed with long hairs that cover ears and nobody obliges them to cut hairs or to change their coiffures before photography.
Lawyer of Ms. Ismailova already got almost 900 applications of the Moslem women from Crimea, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, Kyiv, Kharkiv and Luhansk who want to join to her action. The positive experiences of settlement of similar issues in Russia and many countries of Europe allow them to hope that there will be created a precedent in Ukraine.
By QHA
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