- The Daily Telegraph
- July 05, 2011
MUSLIM women who refuse to remove their burqas when ordered to by police face up to a year in jail after some of the world's toughest burqa laws were announced in NSW yesterday.
Police are to be given the power to force anyone to remove a face covering during routine traffic stops, if suspected of committing a crime or if they are considered a potential security risk.
If a woman defies police and refuses to remove her veil she could be jailed for up to a year or fined $5500.
The penalties are in line with some of the world's toughest burqa rules.
In France, where burqas are completely banned in public, women face fines of $202.
The unprecedented laws follow a furore over Carnita Matthews' refusal to remove her niqab - a full-length covering - when her car was pulled over by police.
Ms Matthews' conviction for making a false statement was overturned after a judge found he could not prove it was really her who made the statement, because her face was covered.
Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione called for the government to close the legal loophole that was preventing officers from identifying suspected criminals.
Premier Barry O'Farrell yesterday said there should be no discrimination - in favour of or against - any race when it came to helping police identify people suspected of criminal breaches.
"I don't care whether a person is wearing a motorcycle helmet, a burqa, niqab, face veil or anything else - the police should be allowed to require those people to make their identification clear," he said after a cabinet meeting.
Attorney-General Greg Smith is in charge of drafting the laws, which are expected to be introduced when parliament resumes in August.
Not every person who disobeys the police orders will be fined or sent to jail, with first offenders possibly given a warning.
In a situation like Ms Matthews', a court will be able to apply a maximum sentence of 12 months and a $5500 fine.
Muslims Australia president Ikebal Patel said he supported the new laws but only for law enforcement purposes.
"We are very supportive of any legislation required to ensure the law enforcements are not impaired," he said. "We would expect that this be done in a sensitive way."
Police previously had the power to ask women to remove veils during the investigation of serious offences but did not have such powers during routine car stops.
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