The last four years in the lives of TV presenters Hala El Malki and Ghada El Tawil have been a continuous struggle brought about by their employers’ refusal to implement two court verdicts. It all started in 2002 when the two presenters decided to wear the hijab. But their employers objected and they were excluded from appearing on the state-run TV station where they work.
Believing that they had a right to appear on the screen, the TV anchors took their case to the civil court. The court ruled in their favour and ordered they be returned to the screen in 2003.
When the state TV station refused to comply with the ruling, the two presenters went to the state court which also ruled in their favour in 2005. But again the station did not comply. But last month, when they tried to force the station to abide by the earlier rulings, they were rebuffed, with the court saying it had already dealt with the case.
The two anchorwomen now want to make their case an international affair, and are seeking out other jurisdictions through which they can fight for their rights. “We will go as far as we have to, it is our right to wear the veil,” Ghada El Tawil was reported as saying.
She says some 75% of Muslim women in Egypt wear the hijab and so the presenters are not trying to do anything out of the ordinary and there is certainly no political agenda.
Human rights organisations say the presenters have a right to wear the veil in exercise of their personal freedom.