A woman asked to remove her niqab when giving evidence in a Perth court has downplayed the situation saying she merely asked to dress as she normally would.
A Perth judge, ruled that the Tasnim must remove her niqab while giving evidence in a fraud trial.
In a statement, Tasnim said she was only attempting to dress as she normally would.
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“I appreciate my request to wear my niqab in court has stirred much public debate, however, I would emphasise that this was not a demand, I merely asked to dress as I normally would in front of people I do not know,” the statement read.
Judge Shauna Deane delivered her decision in the District Court today, saying it only applied to the case in question and did not set a precedent.
Prosecution witness Tasnim, 36, who does not wish her surname to be published, has worn the burqa since the age of 17 and wanted to wear it while giving evidence.
The fraud trial of former Muslim school director Anwar Sayed is due to resume with a new jury in October.
Sayed is accused of fraudulently obtaining up to $752,000 in state and federal grants by falsifying roll numbers for the Muslim Ladies College of Australia in Kenwick, south of Perth, in 2006.
The defence raised concerns about how the jury could be expected to read the woman's facial expressions if they could not see her face.
The first jury in the case was discharged after the estimated time for the trial blew out from 10 days to five weeks, causing attendance problems for five jurors.
On August 6 Sayed was allegedly attacked as he drove to his solicitor's office in Perth and was treated in hospital for minor injuries.
In court the day before, Sayed's lawyer Mark Trowell said his client had received death threats via phone calls and handwritten notes over the burqa issue.
Sayed was at court on Thursday and told reporters outside that he was "much better".
