KUWAIT CITY, 2 April 2007 — Kuwaiti Islamist MPs yesterday called on new Education Minister Nuriya Al-Sebih to wear a headcover, or hijab, saying she should comply with Islamic regulations.
Several lawmakers said they will take up the issue today when the minister is due to take the oath in parliament to become an ex-officio member in the house.
“We will urge the minister to comply with Islamic regulations, the customs of society and a law adopted by Parliament,” MP Abdullah Okash, spokesman for a grouping of six Islamist MPs, told reporters yesterday. A number of other lawmakers also made similar calls.
When MPs passed a law granting women full political rights in May 2005, they attached a precondition requiring women to abide by Islamic Sharia.
Sebih, a retired top bureaucrat, became the second woman minister in the emirate when she was included in the Cabinet line-up announced on March 25.
There was no controversy on Maasuma Al-Mubarak, who made history by becoming the first woman minister in Kuwait two years ago, because she wears a hijab.
Parliament speaker Jassem Al-Khorafi however said last that Parliament rules do not require Sebih to put on a headcover while she attends sessions.
Islamist and tribal MPs form a majority in Kuwait’s 50-seat Parliament. Kuwait has no restrictions on women’s dress code and they are free to wear the hijab or not.
