“Moreover, freedom in America is indivisible from the freedom to practice one’s religion. That is why there is a mosque in every state in our union, and over 1,200 mosques within our borders. That’s why the United States government has gone to court to protect the right of women and girls to wear the hijab and to punish those who would deny it.” — Barack Obama, Cairo, June 4, 2009
But who will go to court, or do anything at all, in the U.S. or Syria or anywhere else, to protect the right of women and girls not to wear the hijab and to punish those who would deny it?
This new edict includes Christian girls, apparently.
“Qaeda tells Syria schoolgirls to wear Islamic clothes: NGO,” from AFP, September 28 (thanks to Pamela Geller):
Beirut (AFP) — An Al-Qaeda front group in Syria says girls in a village it controls will not be allowed to attend school unless they wear Islamic clothing, a monitoring group said Saturday.
In Tweihineh, “the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant… has forbidden girls in primary education and above from attending school unless they wear fully Islamic clothing including an abaya (gown), gloves and a veil,” the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
Citing activists in the ISIL-controlled northern village, the Britain-based Observatory also said boys were told to dress in what the extremist group considers Islamic clothing.
They must wear “traditional Pakistani clothing and a cap”, said the Observatory, which relies on activists, doctors and lawyers across Syria for its information….