The number of Tunisian girls wearing Hijab is on the rise

By Hadi Yahmid, IOL France Correspondent

PARIS, February 3 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - In a move seen as the first of its kind, a Tunisian female lawyer and human rights activist filed a lawsuit to revoke Law no. 108 of 1981, which banned Tunisian women from wearing Hijab (headscarf) inside the state-run bodies.

In press statements to IslamOnline during a symposium in Paris, Saida al-Akrami said she is absolutely convinced that this controversial well-known law brazenly violates the basics rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states that everyone has the right to freedom of religion and choose the clothes which suit him/her.

The Tunisian lawyer said the incumbent Tunisian authorities revitalized the anti-Hijab law, noting that “the implementation of this law sharply conflicts with the Tunisian Constitution, which stipulates that Tunisia is an Islamic country.”

Akrami asserted that five Tunisian female university students were referred to the university’s disciplinary council for refusing to take off their Hijabs inside the campus, adding that another civil servant was given a three-month suspension for the same reason.

Anti-Hijab Campaign

Akrami further said that the religious wake-up witnessed by Tunisia recently and the increasing number of Tunisian girls wearing Hijab had forced the Tunisian authorities to take a hard-line approach in implementing this notorious law, pointing out that an MP with the ruling party demanded the government stand up to the “phenomenon” of Hijab in Tunisian society.

The Tunisian league for human rights, for its part, recently released an unprecedented statement, calling on the Tunisian authorities to put an end to their anti-Hijab campaign.

In 1981, Algerian President Habib Bourguiba (1956-1987) ratified the law, which  banned Tunisian women from wearing Hijab in state offices.

In 1929, a youngman, 26, lashed out at an impudent woman for calling for the liberation of women, urging that Hijab made the Tunisian identity and rejected the call for taking it off.

The youngman started defending his “case” by publishing a number of articles in Tunisian and French newspaper on Hijab. Ironically enough, that youngman was Habib Bourguiba.