'Hypocrite' Straw reprimands magistrate who walked out of court due to veiled Muslim defendant

Jack Straw was accused of hypocrisy yesterday after censuring a magistrate who refused to deal with a case in which a Muslim woman wore a face veil.

The Justice Secretary issued a formal reprimand to Ian Murray even though Mr Straw himself famously asks women to remove their veils in his constituency office.

Mr Straw said in October 2006 that veils were "a statement of separation and difference".

Philip Davies, Tory MP for Shipley, a West Yorkshire constituency with a strong Muslim presence, said: "He is a complete hypocrite.

"Jack Straw tells everyone that he will ask anyone who wears a veil to remove it, then he turns round and disciplines someone for following his line.

"People are fed up to the back teeth with continual concessions to minority groups, in particular in the courts."

In his role as Lord Chancellor and head of the legal system, Mr Straw yesterday backed an order that Mr Murray should go for further training and guidance in court procedure.

The taxi driver was on the bench at Manchester magistrates' court last June when Zoobia Hussain, 32, appeared accused of criminal damage.

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Miss Hussain, a jobless mother of five who was later convicted of the offence, was wearing a niqab, a veil which covered her face apart from her eyes.

The Judicial Communications Office that speaks for the Lord Chief Justice said that the reprimand was given because of Mr Murray's behaviour in court rather than his attitude to the veil.

Judges and magistrates may ask for veils to be removed, a spokesman said.

Mr Murray, 65, from Stockport, said he would not sit as a magistrate until the matter had been finally resolved.