Australian Muslim women must show faces for identity checks under new law

[alp227]

Muslim women in the Australian state of New South Wales will be required to show their faces when they have documents witnessed under new identity check laws.

The laws – due to come into force on 30 April – will apply to statutory declarations and affidavits and cover anything that conceals a person's face, including motorcycle helmets, masks, veils, burqas or niqabs.

It follows a court case in which a woman wearing a burqa had a six-month jail sentence overturned on appeal last year because of doubts about her identity.

Carnita Matthews, 47, was originally convicted of falsely accusing a police officer of trying to remove her burqa during a random breath test. The conviction was overturned on appeal because the woman who made the complaint was wearing a burqa, making it impossible to tell whether it was Matthews.

full: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/mar/05/australian-muslim-women-identity-checks

my take: Religion is an individual choice. Functions of the commons such as getting picture IDs shouldn't accommodate religious exemptions.

[Swede Atlanta]

1. Muslims must accept that there are common civil needs to verify identity....

it cannot be done inside a burqa. That only leads to greater suspicion of Muslim women. Trust me, a public official is not likely to get a woodie based on a woman covered head to toe in a sheet. There are of course always some perverts that will.

[Harald Baldr]

8. Correct

The Australians have got it right on this one. This hardly constitutes an incursion into a woman's civil liberties

[MD20]

2. If your religion runs counter to American law

don't come here. The Australians probably feel the same way!

[BB_Troll]

3. Sorry if this is insensitive...

but if I can't wear my halloween Freddy Krueger mask when getting my License picture taken, then the authorities need to see your face too. Apparently Freddy Krueger masks really mess with facial recognition software.

[Fredjust]

4. Insensitive...

and utterly RACIST. Its bad enough the Australians STOLE THE LAND from native people and put them in concentration camps (reservations!), but now they seek to destroy Muslim women's sense of security and modesty by ripping away their religious garb. Absolutely disgusting piece of legislation!

[fe6252fes]

5. this is ridiculous

[alp227]

7. welcome to DU!

[midnight]

9. So religious favor is only acceptable to govt. officials when they block women's birth control....

Otherwise, religious favor needs to take a back seat.... I understand the principal of separation of church and state... And I support it, the Govt. however, seems to bend in what ever direction they want.... They should uphold the law regardless of religious law... That way they come across as being fair and lawful....