CAIRO: An Egyptian court ruled yesterday that policemen may grow beards.
Dozens of police officers were suspended from work in February for breaking the de facto ban on beards introduced under deposed President Hosni Mubarak. They had protested outside the Interior Ministry, calling on President Muhammad Mursi to secure their reinstatement.
Cairo’s High Administrative Court rejected a request by the Interior Ministry to let it suspend officers who defied the unwritten rule. “The court ruled ... that police officers have the right to grow beards,” judge Maher Abu el-Enin said. During Mubarak’s rule bearded people were barred from senior government posts.
The decision backed a similar ruling by a lower court and the decision makes the verdict final. The Interior Ministry’s spokesman was not immediately available to comment.
Men across Egyptian society wear beards, but the pressure for ending the police ban came from religious officers who wish to emulate the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).
Mursi’s Muslim Brotherhood, the state’s most organized Islamic movement, has come to power through elections since the popular uprising that toppled Mubarak in February 2011.
Mursi said during his campaign for the presidency that he had no objection to members of the security forces growing beards.
