Source: VOA News
Wire Service: AP/Reuters
http://www.voanews.com/english/2007-08-14-voa58.cfm
A court in western Germany has ruled that a teacher who converted to Islam must stop wearing a headscarf at her school.
The court in Dusseldorf ruled Tuesday that wearing the garment at schools violates state law prohibiting religious headwear.
The teacher who challenged the ban, Maryam Brigitte Weiss, started wearing a headscarf last year.
She argued her scarf was permissible because she wore it pushed back with hair showing at the front, in the style of American actress Grace Kelly. The court rejected her argument.
Weiss told Reuters news agency she will appeal the ruling, saying it discriminates against educated Muslim women and excludes them from society.
Dusseldorf is the regional capital of North Rhine-Westphalia, one of 16 German states that ban teachers from wearing Islamic headscarves.
A court in southern Germany's Bavaria state rejected a similar challenge to the ban in January.