05 July 2012

Tunisia university dean in court in veil standoff

A dean at a Tunisian university appeared before a court Thursday on charges of assaulting a veiled student, a case that is part of a long-running dispute between secularists and religious conservatives at the school.

Students at Manouba University known as Salafis who follow an ultraconservative strand of Islam have been pushing for greater piety on the campus just outside Tunis, the capital, as well as for prayer rooms and allowing female students to sit exams wearing the religious face veil. [Associated Press] Read more