Muslim woman receives $4,000 in damages for having to remove face

source: http://www.thelocal.se/11070/20080412/

A 20-year-old Malm=F6 woman has been awarded damages after she was asked
to leave a bus for wearing a veil.

The woman has received 25,000 kronor ($4,203) from public bus service
operator Arriva after an agreement was reached with the Ombudsman
against ethnic discrimination (DO), according to local newspaper
Sydsvenskan.

The woman was instructed to leave the bus in the southern Swedish city
when she refused to remove the niqab veil that she was wearing as part
of her sartorial hijab headdress. The niqab covers the entire face
except for eyes.

The bus driver had asked the woman to remove her niqab so that he
could identify her, however the woman was using a buss pass that did
not require identification.

"The bus driver has not acted according to Arriva's values. There is
no doubt where the fault lies and this is most regrettable. We are
happy to pay out the money to make up for it," said Jan Wildau at
Arriva.

As a result of the incident the bus driver, who was employed on an
hourly basis, no longer works for Arriva.