Minister of Justice Nicolai Wammen of the Social Democrats (Socialdemokratiet) has asked the civil service to look into drafting legislation to ban prosecutors from wearing religious and political symbols in court.
This has come after public debate around a prosecutor who claims to be the first in Denmark to wear a religious headscarf. Wearing religious and political symbols has been banned for judges in Denmark since 2009.
This new ban for prosecutors now looks likely to pass after all parties in the current government have endorsed it.
Debate around Zahra Sediqi
The debate began last Wednesday, when Zahra Sediqi, a prosecutor in Viborg, caught the attention of politicians for wearing a headscarf in the courtroom.
Sediqi has claimed to be the first prosecutor in Denmark to wear the Muslim religious symbol. In a LinkedIn post she wrote: “I am the first prosecutor in Denmark to wear a headscarf. I am both proud of and humble about that.”
The Danish People’s Party (Dansk Folkeparti) and the Denmark Democrats (Danmarksdemokraterne) were quick to weigh in on Sediqi.
Spokesperson for the Danish People’s Party on immigration, Mikkel Bjørn, told Ekstra Bladet: “This is unfortunate. I think the same rules ought to apply to public prosecutors as to judges. And judges are not allowed to wear religious head coverings.
“I don’t think that, as a public prosecutor, someone should, in their role, go around wearing an Islamic headscarf as a very prominent religious statement, while playing a role in deciding people’s fates in very important cases.”
Holder of the same portfolio for the Denmark Democrats, Dennis Flydtkjær, said: “In a courtroom, there must be no doubt about the opposing party’s positions and motives for punishing people.
“That is why I will take this up with the Minister of Justice to get it clarified, both the extent of it, and, as I have said, I think quite clearly that prosecutors should not wear religious headscarves in court.”
The government comes together
The day after Ekstra Bladet’s story, Minister of Justice Nicolai Wammen confirmed that he had asked the civil servants in his ministry to draft legislation banning religious and political symbols for prosecutors.
In a written statement to the tabloid, he said: “Neither Muslim symbols, nor those of any other visible religion, should be able to weaken citizens’ confidence that what takes place in Danish courtrooms is objective.”
The Moderates (Moderaterne) were quick to back the proposal as well.
The Green Left (Socialistisk Folkeparti), which was previously against the 2009 law that banned judges from wearing religious symbols, also changed course and backed this new proposal for prosecutors.
Its spokesperson on justice, Karina Lorentzen, said to Ekstra Bladet on Saturday: “We certainly support a society in which people have equal opportunities. But I also think we must acknowledge that the court is a special place, where one should be able to expect a fair trial.”
Social Liberals in a quick U-turn
This issue threw the fourth party of the government, the Social Liberals (Radikale Venstre), into a bit of turmoil over the weekend.
Initially on Friday, the party’s spokesperson on justice, Maria Georgi Sloth, shut down the idea of the ban, saying: “There should be limits to how much we micro-regulate from Christiansborg.”
However, only a few days later, on Sunday, she sent another written comment to Ekstra Bladet, saying: “Personally, I do not see a headscarf as grounds for questioning a prosecutor’s impartiality.
“But I am open to aligning the requirements we set for prosecutors’ appearance with those for judges, and I am happy to have that discussion within the government.”
This means all four parties are now aligned behind introducing such a ban on hijabs (and other religious or political symbols) for prosecutors.