This is the moment a South African lawyer is accidentally caught describing a hijab-wearing official as being “dressed like a ninja” during the zoom meeting when she thinks that the conversation is muted.
Even worse, the conversation in which she also accuses her of putting “on an act” took place during a Constitutional Court meeting about sharia law in the country.
A misconduct complaint has been filed against lawyer Yasmin Omar, herself a Muslim, about her comments towards Nazreen Bawa of the Women’s Legal Centre, according to the news site TimesLIVE.
The complaint was filed with the Legal Practice Council (LPC) in Pretoria following a meeting of the Constitutional Court of South Africa last week.
Omar, a lawyer for the Muslim Women’s Association of South Africa which opposes the Women’s Legal Centre’s case, made the comments on 5th August.
During the hearing about the regulation of Muslim marriages, Omar apparently said that Bawa put “on an act” and “dressed like a ninja” especially for the meeting, suggesting she does not normally wear traditional Muslim garb.
In the footage, Omar, who is not present on screen, is heard saying: “Look at Nazreen Bawa, she’s dressed like a ninja. Did she always dress like that? She didn’t. She’s putting on an act today, can you see?”
Court justice Stevan Majiedt says “it is Yasmin Omar that was speaking, can people please mute”.
According to reports, Omar claimed that she was not referring to Bawa when asked about her comments later that day, adding: “There was something playing in the background, and I was not referring to her at all.”
Bawa said there was possibly “a level of intolerance for views of Islam that don’t accord with your own” at the centre of Omar’s alleged comments.
Starting in 2009, the case of Muslim marriages has split Muslim groups as to how far the state should go in applying sharia law.
The LPC investigation into the comments made during the recent hearing continues.
The incident sparked outrage on social media, and Twitter user ‘TanveerJeewa’ wrote: “At the beginning of the Constitutional Court hearing, someone was accidentally unmuted and made an extremely Islamophobic comment about Muslim counsel Nazreen Bawa SC. I am absolutely shocked and disgusted.”
Netizen ‘QaanitahHunter’ commented: “In 2021, Muslim women are calling other hijab-wearing Muslim women ninjas? No man.”
‘Raisahsalajee’ said: “How that lady, as a Muslim woman herself, called another woman wearing the hijab a “ninja” in such a public setting is beyond me. Like pls explain?”
