Judge rules Muslim woman should remove her veil while giving evidence at High Court in dispute with her estranged husband over their children

• Deputy High Court Judge Sarah Morgan had overseen a High Court hearing  
• Heard that woman was an ‘adherent Muslim’ who ordinarily covered her face
• Woman’s barrister said she did not wish to be seen ‘unveiled’ by men in hearing
• Judge decided woman should be ‘unveiled’ when she and estranged husband were giving evidence

Deputy High Court Judge Sarah Morgan, based in London, had overseen an online private hearing in the Family Division of the High Court.

A judge ruled a Muslim woman should remove her veil when giving evidence during a High Court dispute with her estranged husband over their children.

Deputy High Court Judge Sarah Morgan, based in London, had overseen an online private hearing in the Family Division of the High Court.

She heard that the woman from Yemen – who came to the UK nearly 20 years ago as a refugee – was an ‘adherent Muslim’ who ordinarily covered her face. 

Barrister Alistair Perkins, who represented the woman, said she did not wish to be seen ‘unveiled’ by male participants at the hearing – unless the judge deemed it ‘necessary’. 

Judge Morgan – who ruled neither the woman nor her husband, from Somalia, can be named – decided the woman should uncover her face when giving evidence, and when her estranged husband was giving evidence, but not at other times during the hearing

The woman alleged that her husband – who she lived with in Sheffield – had been controlling when they were together and would not even let her put the bin out without him being present. He denied he was controlling.

The judge concluded that the man had wrongly removed the children from their mother’s care and taken them abroad. 

Judge Morgan had been asked to make a decision about where further hearings should be staged, and concluded that courts in England and Wales had jurisdiction.

Evidence was heard at a hearing late in 2020 and the judge since outlined all her decisions in a written statement published online. 

Ruling on the issue, Judge Morgan said: ‘The mother is an adherent Muslim who ordinarily covers her face.

‘At the start of the hearing Mr Perkins raised with me her wish not to be seen unveiled by male participants at this hearing unless I directed that it was necessary, and in the event that I did regard it as so, to limit the parts of the hearing when it was necessary and to limit her visibility to a restricted group of the participants.

‘It was a matter of regret to me that the unusual circumstances of the Covid-19 arrangements meant that it was not possible to balance as keenly as would ordinarily be the case the sensitivities of all concerned.

She heard that the woman from Yemen – who came to the UK nearly 20 years ago as a refugee – was an ‘adherent Muslim’ who ordinarily covered her face. Pictured: The Royal Courts of Justice in London, which houses the High Court

‘I was sympathetic to the submission made on the mother’s behalf, that whilst she appreciated that the male counsel acting would wish to see her face, it was not necessary for all other male participants to the hearing to see her.’

She was there was ‘no real strength of opposition’ to the submission.

Judge Morgan said she had directed that the woman would: uncover her face when giving ‘her own oral evidence’; uncover her face when her estranged husband was giving his oral evidence; at all other times, she would not be required to uncover her face.

She said she recognised the ‘situation was far from ideal’.

Judge Morgan said at one point during the hearing, the woman had been in a room with her female solicitor and thought she could not be seen on screen, but had been ‘visible to all’.

The judge added that was ‘an unfortunate consequence of the remote platform’. 

She said the family involved could not be identified in media reports of the case. 

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