Rights Court Upholds Turkish Head-Scarf Ban

Strasbourg, France- The European court of Human Rights ruled against a woman’s challenge to Turkey’s ban on wearing Islamic head scarves at the country’s universities.

A panel of 17 European judges ruled that the ban does not violate the rights of freedom of thought, conscience and religion guaranteed by in international human-right treaty.

The judges dismissed an appeal by Leyla Sahin, a Turkish Muslim, against an earlier ruling from a lower chamber of the Strasbourg court that found head-scarf ban was in place to protect the right and freedom of all students and safeguard public order.

The Wall Street Journal

International, pgA8

November 11, 2005.