Newsreader makes news by wearing hijab on TV

Egypt’s first veiled newsreader on state television has drawn support from many viewers for ending an unwritten rule that kept women out of the job if they were so attired.

Fatma Nabil appeared on TV on Sunday wearing make-up, a smart black jacket and a beige “hijab” or veil covering her hair, the same kind that most women wear in Egypt.

Although some female talk-show hosts on state TV have worn the hijab, former president Hosni Mubarak’s more secular-minded authorities kept veiled women out of the prominent newsreading role on television, seen as the face of the nation.

“This is a case of personal freedom. There is no problem,” said Khaled Atef, a bank employee speaking on a busy Cairo street, adding it should not be considered a political gesture.

After Mohamed Morsi won the presidential election and his Muslim Brotherhood dominated the parliamentary poll, some liberals and minority Christians voiced worries religious codes could be imposed to restrict their freedoms.

Some critics said the latest move meant the Brotherhood, known as the Ikhwan in Arabic, was gradually extending its influence over society. “No to the Ikhwanization of the news,” wrote commentator Loai El Ashry on the website of independent daily Al-Masry al-Youm.

A man who called himself “Oppressed Muslim” wrote on the state broadcaster’s website, EgyNews: “I am oppressed by the actions of the Brotherhood … who want all of Egypt to become the Brotherhood as if we are not Muslims and will only become so in their presence.”

Some Egyptians, such as journalist Rawya Rageh, welcomed the reversal of a restriction on veiled women but said the debate about change should go much deeper. “Reform in state media should be about more than appearances – it should be about undoing the practice of being the state’s mouthpiece,” she wrote on Twitter.