Scores of women in niqab (face veil) have complained that the police continue to harass them over wearing of face mask in public. 

They said police often forced them to take off their niqab and wear the face mask, which they said is against their beliefs.

Awa Jarju said she has been harassed multiple times, adding the first one was at Serrekunda market “where a police officer forced me to wear a face mask and I told him I am wearing a niqab already how can I wear a face mask on top of the niqab.”

She added that: “I end up telling him the money I am having here is for the fish money, I cannot use it to buy a face mask and that’s how I escape him.”

She said the second incidence happened to her at the Talinding market where a police woman also insisted that she must take off her niqab and wear a face mask. 

“At this point I was so angry and I asked myself  why is this happening for the second time. If a person wearing a face mask can’t be forced to take it off and wear the niqab, then why are they forcing those wearing the niqabs to take it off just to wear a face mask? 

As if this wasn’t enough, the woman did it to me again for the second time when I went to the market again,” she said.

She urged the security officers to respect their rights, adding it is against their beliefs to take off their veils in the midst of the public.

“I will really want my rights to wear the niqab to be protected and this is what I choose to wear, nobody can force me to do otherwise,” she said.

Zahra Fatty, also said she was also stopped multiple times in Basse and Bansang at various check points and was asked to remove her niqab and wear a face mask.

She said: “It is now obvious that our sisters in Islam are being harassed in public places such as the markets, hospitals and in the streets, We are citizens of this country and we have the right to practice what we want.”

“It is not up to the government to decide how our Muslim sisters dress. It is it not up to them to give us choices in choosing what we want to wear.”

Another niqab woman, Khadija Sey, demand an apology from the police, adding “we want our rights to be respected and them sitting and watching our right being infringed upon is a crime against the law.”

Police have denied targeting Muslim women wearing the niqab. 

“It is a common understanding that the Niqab veil covers the mouth and nose which is the ultimate purpose of facemask wearing.

“In view of this, it is important to state that the Inspector General’s Office has not issued any specific instructions of arrests targeting women wearing the Niqab,” the police said in a statement.