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Police circulars show there is legal clarity on the wearing of the burqa or niqab in public places, contradicting statements by Equality Minister Helena Dalli.
Police circular GHQ 13/13, dated February 6, 2013, gave the Attorney General’s “clear” opinion on the matter.
The circular, seen by the Times of Malta, stressed that “there is no provision in Maltese law that prohibits the wearing of the burqa”.
It elaborated that “the contravention 338(n) of the Criminal Code prohibiting anyone from wearing any mask or disguising oneself, except at the time and in the manner allowed at law, does not apply to the burqa.
“The Attorney General’s opinion is clear – the burqa is not a mask – and thus, criminal proceedings are not to be instituted against those wearing one,” the circular states.
Criminal proceedings are not to be instituted against those wearing a burqa
Yet another police circular, GHQ 51/2014, dated September 1, 2014, confirmed what had been said in the 2013 communication on the matter.
Police officers may order the lifting of the burqa should they have reasonable suspicion that the person wearing it is about to commit a crime, according to the circular.
Minister Dalli has repeatedly said that the former Nationalist administration “issued a directive to the police not to enforce an existing law”.
She said this was done in February 2013, but the circular on the matter seen by the Times of Malta makes no such reference.
Minister Dalli even said she was for a “reversal” of this police circular instructing officers not to enforce the ban on masks and other coverings in public.
Last week Justice Minister Owen Bonnici postponed a reply to a parliamentary question by Clyde Puli asking whether wearing a burqa in public was illegal according to Maltese law.
The burqa debate erupted last summer when Nationalist MPs Jason Azzopardi and Clyde Puli posted a comment on Facebook saying the criminal code had to be amended to address the legal anomaly of women wearing burqas or niqabs in public.
On Sunday, addressing a political activity at the Birżebbuġa Labour Party club, Ms Dalli remarked that the right to dress as one pleased “stops when it impinges on another person’s right to enjoy security”.
She added that the Prime Minister had instructed her and the justice minister to “look into best practices and propose a coherent policy”.
She told the Times of Malta she was aiming to “achieve legal certainty” through the “necessary legal amendment”.