The hijab wins the "Battle of Documents" in Ukraine

Safwan Gulaq-Kiev

"A peaceful judicial battle" that was fought by the Ukrainian Muslim activist Olga Vrindak over nine months - she says - in which she defended before the judiciary and during various meetings and participation of the right of Muslim women to photograph the hijab of internal documents and passports.

Frindak, who heads the Ma'an and Law Association for the Defense of Arab and Muslim Rights, was personally prevented from filming a hijab for a passport in March.

The activist in an interview with Al Jazeera Net that the issue of prevention began in a service of passports in the capital city of Kiev, and then expanded its circle to include all circles in the capital and other cities, before including even Muslim women coming to the veil in Ukraine.

"This ban entitles the authorities to ask for the headscarf to be taken off the camera, or to be checked at the border crossings," says Frindak.

Parliament and ministry
Frindak was not the first Muslim to face this situation, but was preceded by many Muslims in Ukraine, where Muslims make up 2 to 4% of the total population of about 42 million, according to various estimates.

"Some Muslim women have accepted photography without a veil, voluntarily or forcibly. Some of them have complained to some institutions or personalities to intervene, and some have been allowed to take pictures of their responsibility," she said.

She was brought to justice by the religious administration of Ukraine's Muslims. The case was brought to the attention of the Human Rights and Minorities Committee of the parliament, which demanded that the Interior Ministry intervene.

In an interview with al-Jazeera Net, the Grand Mufti of the Religious Administration of the Nation of Ukraine, Sheikh Said Ismailov, said that "the intervention of the parliament was not the position of the Ministry of the Interior, which organized a meeting in November to discuss the issue attended by representatives of various Islamic departments and institutions and even Catholic Christianity, .

The meeting concluded an agreement between the Religious Administration of the Muslims of Ukraine (Nation) and the Ministry to form an independent committee to examine the specificity of the issue and to submit its recommendations within six months to the National Scientific Institute.

Hate or corruption?
While the issue is on the way to the solution does not exclude the activist Olga Frindak to be associated with a beginning of hatred towards Muslims, but the Mufti of the Muslims of Ukraine refuses to generalize.

"The problem started with the main passport service in Kiev, and it seems to me that the attitude of some officials there has brought a kind of hatred towards the Muslims. I do not want to mention their names, but perhaps because of them the matter has moved to the rest of the circles, Exist in Ukraine ".

She explained that the argument of the Immigration Service during the meeting of the ministry is the existence of standards approved in Ukraine in 1994, which are Soviet standards that were later abolished.

"Yes, there are no Ukrainian laws that allow for the hijab, but we have always relied on the international standards that allow the hijab under certain conditions that highlight the main features of the face," Olga Clerini, a passport service official, told Al Jazeera Net.

"There are no manifestations of hatred against Muslims in Ukraine, and what happened is no more than an individual case, I think, or a case of corruption, so we have sought to resolve the issue quietly and have reached a conclusion," said Sheikh Said Ismailov.

"We have stood together and several Christian Orthodox organizations and personalities have stood up with us, and this is a fact that we have been happy to express and express cooperation and understanding among the various groups of Ukrainian society," he said.