Judge refuses to hear Muslim woman’s evidence in court after the woman refused to remove her veil

A MUSLIM woman who refused to take off her burqa during a court case where she is suing police over a terrorism raid at her house, did not appear at her own hearing today after a judge refused to hear her evidence unless she showed her face.

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A MUSLIM woman who refused to take off her burqa in court to give evidence in a civil case has failed to show at her own hearing today — a day after a judge refused to hear her evidence unless she revealed her face.

Moutia Elzahed, one of two women married to convicted criminal and Islamic extremist Hamdi Alqudsi, is suing the police alleging they punched her and called her a “bitch” during the Operation Appleby terrorism raids at her Revesby home on September 18, 2014.

In what lawyers ­believe is an Australian first, NSW District Court judge Audrey Balla would not let Ms Elzahed take the stand in the civil case while she wore her veil yesterday.

Ms Elzahed refused to take off her burqa and she failed to turn up to the fourth day of the hearing this morning.

Her lawyer Zali Burrows declined to say why Ms Elzahed did not appear.

Moutia Elzahed.

Hamdi Alqudsi.

Lawyer Clive Evatt yesterday told Judge Balla his client could not reveal her face to any man outside her family — for religious reasons.

Judge Balla said Ms Elzahed could have the court closed while she gave evidence or she could go to another room and give evidence via video link.

Mr Evatt declined both options because the mostly male legal counsels for both sides would still be able to see his client’s face.

Ms Elzahed also ­refused to stand for Judge Balla when the judicial officer entered and exited the court.

Outside court yesterday, Ms Elzahed told The Daily Telegraph “it is not fair” that she could not give evidence. Her refusal to take off the burqa is a blow to her case, which relied on her sworn testimony that she was punched by police during the dawn raid.

Ms Elzahed is seeking compensation for “assault and battery, wrongful arrest, false imprisonment and intimidation”.

She is joined in the lawsuit by her husband Hamdi Alqudsi and her sons Hamza George, 17, and Abdulla George, 17.

NSW District Court judge Audrey Balla.

Moutia Elzahed outside court.

Today, two NSW police officers who handcuffed Ms Elzahed’s teenage sons during a terrorism raid on their Sydney home have denied slamming either of the boys into a cupboard and window and calling them terrorists, a court has heard.

Senior constables Ashley Young and Christopher Timson were part of a team of officers who stormed the Revesby house of Elzahed, her husband Hamdi Alqudsi and her two teenage sons in the early hours of September 2014 while executing a search warrant.

The four occupants are suing the state and federal governments over the raid, with Ms Elzahed alleging she was “punched in the ear, eye and head”, and the boys alleging they were pushed to the floor with violence and called terrorists.

At a Sydney District Court today, Sen Cons Young said he only used “enough force to put the handcuffs on” one of the boys, who was struggling and resisting.

Since the raid Alqudsi has been convicted of helping seven men travel to Syria to fight with Islamist rebels in the civil war. He was jailed for eight years with a non-parole period of six years.

In a statement of claim tendered to the court Ms Elzahed states she was “punched in the ear, eye and head”, causing her ear to bleed and she was handcuffed in a “brutal” and “hurtful” manner.

The federal and state governments, acting on behalf of Federal and NSW police, deny all allegations of police brutality, arguing officers used only reasonable force.

The former grand mufti of Australia Sheikh Fehmi el-Imam, who died in September, had ruled it is OK for Muslim women to remove burqas in court to give evidence.

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