WORLD BRIEFING
Kuwait’s highest court ruled that female lawmakers are not obliged by law to wear the head scarf, a blow to Muslim fundamentalists who want to fully impose Sharia, or Islamic law, in this small, oil-rich state.
The Constitutional Court dismissed a case raised by a voter who claimed that two of four women elected to parliament in May, Rola Dashti and Aseel Awadhi, cannot be members of the legislature because they don’t comply with the Islamic dress code.
The other two elected lawmakers wear the head scarf, known as hijab, and clothes that fully cover their arms and legs.
The landmark ruling was the second recent breakthrough for Kuwaiti women. Last week, the same court granted married women the right to obtain passports without their husbands’ approval.
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