Russian Court Backs Muslim Scarves in IDs

Russia's Supreme Court ruled Thursday that Muslim women will be allowed to wear headscarves in photographs for official documents, and Russia's large Muslim community hailed the decision as a victory for freedom of religion.

In its Thursday ruling, the court overturned its March rejection of an appeal by a 10 Muslim women from Tatarstan, a predominantly Muslim region, who objected to a police requirement that they be bareheaded in ID photos. The reason for the reversal was not immediately known.

The Quran, the Muslim holy book, requires women to dress modestly, and women in most Islamic societies wear headscarves if not more all-encompassing coverings. But Russian police have prohibited head coverings in photographs for internal passports, the all-purpose identity documents required for all citizens.

"The Supreme Court, in effect, fixed the Muslim's right to profess their religion full-fledged," Nafigulla Ashirov, the chief mufti of Siberia and the Far East, according to the ITAR-Tass news agency.

Leisan Gusmanova, one of the 10 women involved in the case, told Russia's NTV that she prayed all night on the eve of the ruling.

"I was not the only one who was praying, many people were praying," she said.

The women said that removing one's scarf in public is a grave sin, so they were left with the choice of violating Russian rules or the Quran, which they consider the ultimate law.

The headscarf issue came up last year, as authorities gave out new Russian passports to replace the old Soviet ones still in use.

The Interior Ministry criticized the ruling, and said it planned to appeal.

"The cancellation of the requirement which banned head coverings when taking ID photos will seriously impede the establishment of identification," Yuri Ivshkin, head of the Interior Ministry's passport and visa department, told ITAR-Tass.