Czech court dismisses hijab ban complaint against school

PRAGUE, Czech Republic – A court in the Czech Republic dismissed a complaint Friday brought by a Somali woman who had accused a nursing school of discriminating against her by telling her she couldn’t wear a hijab.

The school argued that Ayan Jamaal Ahmednuur was not properly enrolled as a student and therefore could not have been a target of bias.

The Prague 10 district court agreed, ruling there was no evidence of discrimination.

Ahmednuur alleged that on her first day at Secondary Health School the school’s principal told her to remove her hijab. Instead, she submitted a form to quit and demanded an apology and 60,000 koruna ($2,372) in compensation.

Unlike some other European countries, the Czech Republic does not prohibit Muslim women from wearing headscarves in certain settings. However, the nursing school does for what it described as safety reasons since its students get some of their training in hospitals.

Anti-Muslim activists, including some politicians, applauded the verdict.

The Czech Republic has not seen its Muslim population grow as much as wealthier European countries where refugees and other migrants prefer to apply for asylum.