A Statement by Sarah Teather MP for the Protestors Outside the French Embassy

Written by Sarah Teather MP on Sat 17th Jan 2004

To all those gathered today I want to offer my support. I also want to send my sincere apologies for being unable to join you in person. I hope that you will understand my reasons - I shall be meeting local people in my surgery today at the time of the demonstration to discuss problems they need my help with and I didn't feel that I could turn people away with problems at such short notice. Please be assured however that I am with you in spirit.

We must protest against the loss of freedom wherever it occurs. That is why it is so important that we protest for the rights of Muslim women. "

When Muslim women are told not to wear the hijab they are losing part of their freedom. In a recent case an Algerian-born student in France was instructed to remove her headscarf each day before entering her school; if she kept it on in school, the principal sent her home. She says that despite her good grades, she was rejected from a special educational track in retaliation for her religious beliefs. In frustration, she dropped out of school at 16, finishing high school by correspondence. Now 22, she said "Removing my headscarf was like tearing something away...I felt my rights were being abridged. There were students who wore all black and were part of a satanic sect, but nobody bothered them".

I am a Liberal because I believe that freedom must be protected. I believe that each individual should have the right to express those things that are most important to them and to live their lives as they wish, as long as they are not causing real harm to others by doing so. But what harm can wearing a headscarf possibly bring to another? What harm could possibly be brought about by having a society where people peacefully follow the teachings of their faith and feel confident enough to demonstrate something which is so precious and personal to them to others around them? Allowing each individual to live their life in the way they have chosen brings diversity - difference - but that diversity brings a richness and colour to life. We must respect and uphold difference not bully our people into conformity.

I am proud that my Liberal Democrat colleagues have been fighting this issue in the European Parliament too. My colleague Baroness Sarah Ludford MEP said "As a feminist and a liberal I am fighting for people to be able to do what they have freely chosen."

We must protest against the loss of freedom wherever it occurs. That is why it is so important that we speak out against those who are curbing the rights of Muslim women. Together with my colleagues in the European Parliament I shall do all that I can to bring attention to this issue and I call upon politicians at all levels to work with the Muslim community to bring an end to this unjust ruling.

Assalamualaikum.