Battle over veil heats up in U.K. Teachers aide refuses to remove veil. [View All]

LONDON—A British government minister joined an increasingly bitter debate about the rights of Muslim women to veil their faces, saying a teaching assistant should be fired for insisting on wearing one in school.

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Azmi has refused to remove her black veil, which leaves only her eyes visible, in front of male colleagues. She was suspended from her job, but has taken her case to an industrial tribunal that handles cases on employment law, which will make a decision in the next few weeks.

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"She is denying the right of children to a full education by insisting that she wears the veil. If she is saying that she won't work with men, she is taking away the right of men to work in school," Woolas said.

Debate began earlier this month, when Jack Straw, ex-foreign minister now serving as House leader of Commons, said Muslim women visiting his office should remove their veils.

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