20 August 2010 - 19:30

A Norwegian administrative court on Friday said a ban on female police officers wearing the Islamic headscarf was illegal, in response to a government refusal last year to allow officers to don the hijab.

Ahlul Bayt News Agency, A Norwegian administrative court on Friday said a ban on female police officers wearing the Islamic headscarf was illegal, in response to a government refusal last year to allow officers to don the hijab.

The Norwegian Equality Tribunal said in a non-binding opinion that the ban ran counter to the country's freedom of religion and anti-discrimination laws by depriving a whole category of women from access to the police profession.

"The official objective is for the police to mirror Norwegian society as a whole," the tribunal wrote in its ruling.

"The society is multi-cultural and diverse, and the police should also illustrate this diversity, precisely to allow it to maintain trust at large" among the population, it added.

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