Court: immigration judge attacked for 'Ku Klux Klan' comment


The Coventry law firm caught up in a media storm over its legal adviser's refusal to take off her veil in court is to file a complaint about the immigration judge involved after he made a reference to the 'Ku Klux Klan' when asking her to remove the veil.


A spokesman for Judge Glossop insisted that he had simply been 'attempting to draw an analogy with the difficulty in communicating with a person in a mask', and that he had said he 'would find it more difficult to speak to anyone whose face was almost entirely obscured'.


The judge asked legal adviser Shabnam Mughal to remove her veil during a hearing at the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal (AIT) in Stoke-on-Trent last week, adjourning the case to seek advice when she refused a second time.


Abdul Khan, a partner at The Law Partnership in Coventry where Ms Mughal works, told the Gazette he intended to make a complaint once the tribunal case was over.


The spokesman said it was 'certainly not the case' that Judge Glossop had said he did not allow veils in court. However, 'he did ask Ms Mughal in the morning session if she were willing to remove her veil to assist communication... but it was only in the afternoon session that the judge experienced some difficulty in hearing what Ms Mughal was saying and specifically referred to that.'


He continued: 'What the judge did was to seek further guidance on how to proceed.'


AIT president Sir Henry Hodge issued interim guidance last week noting that Ms Mughal had worn her veil at the AIT before and stating that the 'presumption' is that representatives should be able to wear the veil if they have their client's agreement 'and can be heard reasonably clearly by all parties'. However, he noted that 'if a judge or other party... is unable to hear the representative clearly, then the interests of justice are not served, and other arrangements will need to be made'.


When the case resumed this week, Mr Khan decided to replace Ms Mughal in court rather than 'take the risk of our client's case being damaged'. He stressed this was no reflection on Ms Mughal's abilities. Judge Glossop was also replaced by the residing senior immigration judge, Christine Martin, 'due to the sensitive nature of the issue'.