ERFURT, Germany, October 10 (News Agencies) - A Muslim shop assistant, who was fired by her German employers for wanting to wear a headscarf at work, was wrongly dismissed, a court ruled Thursday, October 10, stressing it was part of her right to religious freedom.

The 30-year-old Turkish-born employee was fired when, nearing the end of her maternity leave in 1999, she announced she wanted to wear a headscarf for religious reasons, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.

Her employers, the only department store in the small town of Schluechtern, western Germany, said it breached their dress code and argued her headscarf might anger their "conservative and rural" customers.

They sacked her despite her 10-year work record for the company, most recently in the perfumery department, said AFP.

A lower court had upheld the sacking on the grounds that the woman had known what the rules were.

The federal employment tribunal in Erfurt, eastern Germany, ruled that while an employer could stipulate a dress code, it still had to respect basic rights such as freedom of religion.