On versatility of the niqab

That funny picture of women saying things like "The veil is women liberation" acquires a completely new meaning when reading this article in Times.

The circumstances surrounding the murder of PC Sharon Beshenivsky would be disturbing at the best of times. She was shot by a gang whose members (foreign nationals) had extensive criminal records; they were considered for deportation but were allowed to stay in Britain because their homeland - Somalia - was determined to be too dangerous a place to which to send them back.
...
One of those who was wanted for this murder - Mustaf Jama - is believed to have fled Britain in the days after the shooting, disguising himself as a veiled woman.
...
Jama was able to sneak on to an international flight at Heathrow dressed in a niqab despite extensive publicity about this murder. His photograph had been circulated to every police force, port and airport in the country. Had he been asked to reveal his face he would have been detected in a moment. He is instead now believed to be at liberty in a region of Somalia where his family wields much influence — the very same Somalia that had been too dangerous for these criminals.

Of course, the article in Times has a strong anti-immigration context, but that's not the point.

And of course, the Guardians of Political Correctness will start squealing about racism and anti-Islamic bigotry, but again - this is not the point of this post, nor is the relaxed security in Heathrow regarding the passengers who leave Britain.

It's all about fashion an its surprising and (for some) completely unexpected uses.

And a quaint detail: for the criminal mentioned above, niqab has little of religious value: he is a heavy drinker as well as a killer:

A gang of robbers partied on champagne and vodka before carrying out a botched raid in which a woman police officer was murdered, a court was told yesterday.

So let's not try any religious angles here, OK?

(Although, deity knows, a person who mixes champagne and vodka, should go straight to hell.)



to Cyrus.

***