Posted on Sat, Nov. 02, 2002

Reuters

KABUL - The Afghan Supreme Court has dismissed a female judge for not wearing an Islamic headscarf during a meeting with President Bush and his wife last month, government sources said on Saturday.

Marzeya Basil was among a group of 14 female government officials who attended computer and management courses in Washington at the invitation of the U.S. government and who met Bush and his wife, Laura.

Pictures of Basil and several other course participants standing with Bush without a headscarf were carried by world media.

The 44-year-old Basil, a mother of several children, was sacked days after her return to Kabul before the end of last month for not wearing her scarf during the meeting, said the sources, who did not want to be identified.

"The decision for her removal was made by top authorities of the Supreme Court," one of the sources said.

Deputy Chief Justice and vice president of the Supreme Court, Fazl Ahmad Manawi, said he was unaware of her dismissal but urged Afghan women to observe the dress code at home and abroad.

Basil herself could not be reached for comment.

Some Afghan Muslim women have stopped wearing the coverall burqa required by the fundamentalist Taliban who were overthrown with the help of U.S. air power late last year.

The U.S.-backed government of Hamid Karzai has relaxed many of the Taliban's more strict decrees, but some in the administration have opposed liberalization.

Karzai's government includes mujahideen (holy warriors) who enforced strict dress codes for women themselves when in power before the Taliban takeover.

-- Anonymous, November 02, 2002