POLICE will be given powers to force people to remove facial coverings if they are suspected of committing a crime, the Premier, Barry O'Farrell, has said.
NSW Muslim organisations have largely welcomed the new laws, but civil libertarians have criticised them for giving unnecessary powers to police.
Mr O'Farrell announced late yesterday that cabinet had approved laws allowing police to direct people to remove coverings, including veils and motorcycle helmets, if they had reasonable grounds for suspecting breaches of security may occur, or breaches of the law had occurred.
The laws come after the high-profile case of the Muslim woman Carnita Matthews, who successfully appealed against her conviction for falsely accusing a police officer of trying to rip off her veil. The judge found there was not enough evidence Mrs Matthews had made the statutory declaration accusing the officer.
The Islamic Council of NSW and the the Lebanese Muslim Association supported the laws.
The chairman of the council, Khaled Sukkarieh, said there was nothing in the Koran or the Hadith saying women should not remove facial coverings for identification if a crime was suspected. ''It's got to be done sensitively but we trust our police officers," he said.
Mariam Veiszadeh, a solicitor and Muslim who wears a hijab, said the laws were fair if they only applied to the face for identification purposes, and not to hair.
But Stephen Blanks, the secretary of the NSW Council for Civil Liberties, said the government had not provided any information indicating how often facial coverings had hindered police investigations. "This is a knee-jerk reaction to a situation that has got a lot of publicity," he said.
He said the bigger problem in the case of Mrs Matthews was that police had not properly recorded the identity of the person making the complaint, nor her apparent earlier refusal to remove her face covering.
lol
still too much compromise as far as i'm concerned .our country our rules , end of story .
I'm no burqa lover,but that whole stupid saga was started by an officer of the law doing his duty and stopping that motorist for the dastardly crime of not having the P plate properly displayed. We bikers have to put up with this stupid crap of coppers making mountains out of anthills. I know that some businesses have helmet removal signs, But is it against the LAW not to remove helmet ? If so which law? Whilst legalising could someone also enlighten me on lane splitting. pete.
