Terrorist recruiter’s burka-wearing wife who refused to stand for judge loses appeal

A burka-wearing Muslim who refused to stand for a judge ‘because she only stands for Allah’ has had her appeal dismissed.

Moutia Elzahed, the wife of jailed terrorist recruiter Hamdi Alqudsi, was ordered to pay NSW Police $250,000 in costs after she tried to sue the force for raiding her home.

She appealed that the decision but today had her case thrown out of court, the Daily Telegraph reported.

Elzahed’s lawyer claimed the woman had been unable to give ‘crucial’ evidence because the judge in the initial case had refused to let her speak without removing her veil.

But Justice Anthony Payne today told the NSW Court of Appeal that the decision to not let her give evidence with her face covered was correct in law.

‘Viewing the appellant’s face while she was giving her evidence was capable of affecting the resolution of that conflict,’ the judge said.

‘The primary judge did not err in concluding that fairness to all parties required her to reject the appellant’s application.’

Elzahed, 50, was ordered to cough up the $250,000 costs.

Earlier this month, Elzahed gave the one-finger ISIS salute outside court after being found guilty of refusing to stand for a judge.

She held up her index finger – which was covered completely in a black glove – to awaiting crowds outside court.

Wearing an ink black burqa, she walked away from the Sydney Downing Centre Court as she continued to perform the ISIS salute while her friend called journalists ‘cockroaches’.

The single finger salute of a right hand represents tawhid, a key component of Muslim religion, and signifies ‘ISIS’ violent and uncompromising posture’ towards ‘the destruction of the West’, according to Foreign Affairs.

The Muslim woman’s decision to use the ISIS salute appears to reflect the moment her husband performed the same gesture moments before he was sentenced for eight years.

Elzahed’s extremist husband, Alqudsi, who was found guilty of recruiting terrorist fighters in 2016, held up his index finger to Supreme Court Judge Christine Adamson while he stood in the dock.

The traditional Islamic gesture has been used by a number of Islamic State fighters which reportedly shows their belief towards world domination.

Elzahed is the first person in New South Wales to face the charge after she refused to rise for a judge in 2016 purportedly on religious grounds.

The woman was found guilty in the Downing Centre Local Court of nine counts of disrespectful behaviour in court.

The stand-off came to a head when the magistrate Carolyn Huntsman returned to the bench and ordered Elzahed to leave her seat at the back of the courtroom and approach the bar table.

‘Remain standing – you remain standing when I speak to you,’ Ms Huntsman said.

The magistrate had found Elzahed intentionally flouted the established court convention on nine separate occasions in 2016 when she remained seated in front of District Court Judge Audrey Balla.

Each offence carries a maximum jail term of 14 days and/or a $1100 fine.

Elzahed, who has no prior convictions, said she only stood for Allah, but Ms Huntsman on Friday ruled there was no evidence she was acting on a genuine religious belief or that the teachings of Islam compelled such behaviour.

The mother-of-two previously told Daily Mail Australia she did ‘nothing wrong’ and felt ‘very happy about everything’.

The woman, who is one of two wives of Alqudsi, said she refused to reveal her face in court to give evidence over an incident in 2014.

The 50-year-old’s black Islamic dress covers her entire body, including her hands, and she said only her ‘brother, husband, father or son’ can see her uncovered.

Source: Daily Mail