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In Australia, a senator in hijab encourages young Muslim women to wear the veil “with pride”

2022-08-01T14:17:30.103Z


Of Afghan origin, the newly elected 27-year-old fled the Taliban regime with her father in 1999. For her first speech as a senator, Fatima Payman, 27, could have claimed her status as the historic youngest in the Australian parliament. However, the young woman has chosen to focus on a completely different role, that of the first veiled senator sitting in the upper house. Dressed in her eternal hijab, this Islamic veil which covers the hair, the ears and the neck, the Australian-Afghan elected


For her first speech as a senator, Fatima Payman, 27, could have claimed her status as the historic youngest in the Australian parliament.

However, the young woman has chosen to focus on a completely different role, that of the first veiled senator sitting in the upper house.

Dressed in her eternal hijab, this Islamic veil which covers the hair, the ears and the neck, the Australian-Afghan elected since June 20 was delighted to embody the image of a "

modern Australia

".

Ten years ago, would this parliament have accepted that a woman choosing the hijab be elected?

“, she launched.

Visibly moved, the new senator recalled her origins.

Her father, who came from Kabul, was an MP under the old regime before fleeing the Taliban in 1999. Fatima arrived in Australia when she was 8 years old.

She studied medicine for a time at the Australian Islamic College in Perth, before turning to politics by joining the country's largest union, the United Workers Union.

At 27, she became Australia's youngest female senator.

Saying she was surprised by this election, as well as that of many other deputies from minorities, the young woman was delighted to see the Parliament more representative of "

the real Australia

".

"

No matter where you were born, no matter what state and territory you're from, no matter what you choose to wear, no matter who you choose to believe in

," she said

. 'Australia is a place where you are welcome and can be part of a united collective

.'

And to encourage young Muslim women to assume the choice of the veil.

I want young girls who decide to wear the hijab to do so with pride, and to do so knowing that they have the right to wear it.

“, concluded the young politician.

Wear the hijab with pride

A speech which, among Internet users, has aroused the admiration of some and the criticism of others, at a time when the Islamic veil is a means of pressure for the Taliban who returned to power in August 2021. Last May, the supreme leader of the fundamentalist organization ordered that women cover themselves fully in public, ideally with the burqa, a full veil with a fabric grid at eye level.

Read alsoIn Afghanistan, the Taliban stage their vision of women

While some Afghan women have welcomed the arrival of a stricter regime, others are still resisting and continuing to demonstrate with their faces uncovered.

"

I'm not just defending my own rights, I'm defending the rights of all women in Afghanistan

", explained one of them to France 24 last May, denouncing a regime that gives "

no value to women

" .

.

For his part, the UN special rapporteur for human rights in Afghanistan, Richard Bennett, reacted by affirming that these restrictions “

describe a model of total sexual segregation and aim to make women invisible in society

”.

SEE ALSO

- Kabul: the Taliban stick up posters asking women to wear the hijab

Source: lefigaro

All news articles on 2022-08-01

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