MURIC demands review of Nigerian Law School dress code

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The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has demanded that AbdulSalaam Firdaus Amasa be immediately called to bar by the Nigerian Law School.

The rights group made the demand in a memorandum it dispatched to the House of Representatives Committee on Judiciary and Justice.

The House of Representatives committee was mandated on Wednesday, 20 December, 2017, to investigate the circumstances surrounding the refusal by the Nigerian Law School to call the University of Ilorin law graduate to the bar over her insistence on wearing hijab.

The MURIC memorandum, which was addressed to the Chairman of the House Committee on Judiciary and Justice and entitled “Memorandum in Respect of Call to Bar Case in the School of Law,” affirmed the mandatory nature of hijab for Muslim women in the Qur’an and restated the provisions of the Nigerian constitution on freedom of religion and respect for the dignity of the human person.

The memorandum also revealed previous court decisions in favour of hijab including a Court of Appeal pronouncement confirming the right of Muslim women to use hijab.

MURIC appealed to the House to “stand up for justice in this matter of infringement of Allah-given fundamental right of a lady who, having satisfied all righteousness in the Faculty of Law, University of Ilorin, is being denied her right to practice the law profession on account of her being a Muslim.”

The memorandum also stated that the Law School Hijabgate has brought to the fore the myriad of persecutions faced by Muslim women because of hijab in various sectors.