The facts

Ms Zoubida Barik Edidi is a Spanish advocate. In the course of a trial of Islamic terrorist offences before the Audiencia Nacional, at a hearing on 20 October 2009 she sat in the part of the courtroom reserved for the parties, wearing her advocate’s gown and a hijab. No comment was made on that occasion; however, at the hearing on 22 October the President of the Court asked her to return to the part of the courtroom reserved for members of the public, on the ground that the lawyers appearing before the court should either be bareheaded or wear the appropriate headgear: the biretta (connoisseurs of ecclesiastical tat please note).

On the following day, she told the Observatory of Justice of the Madrid Bar about the incident. Her subsequent administrative appeals and her request for judicial review were dismissed, as was her appeal to the Constitutional Court. Moreover, no action was taken on her request for disciplinary sanctions against the President of the Court who had asked her to return to the public area of the courtroom. Continue reading →