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Islamic authorities in Russia's Dagestan ban full-face veil after attacks

 
 Sergei Melikov, the head of the Dagestan region, visits Derbent synagogue following an attack by gunmen and a fire, in Derbent in the region of Dagestan, Russia June 24, 2024, in this still image taken from video. (photo credit: HEAD OF THE DAGESTAN REGION SERGEI MELIKOV VIA TELEGRAM/HANDOUT VIA REUTERS)
Sergei Melikov, the head of the Dagestan region, visits Derbent synagogue following an attack by gunmen and a fire, in Derbent in the region of Dagestan, Russia June 24, 2024, in this still image taken from video.
(photo credit: HEAD OF THE DAGESTAN REGION SERGEI MELIKOV VIA TELEGRAM/HANDOUT VIA REUTERS)

The Dagestan Muftiate said it was introducing a "temporary" ban on the niqab after an appeal from Russia's ministry of nationality policy and religious affairs.

Islamic authorities in Russia's mostly-Muslim North Caucasus region of Dagestan on Wednesday temporarily banned women from wearing the niqab full-face veil after simultaneous attacks targeting churches and synagogues killed 22 last month.

In a statement posted on the Telegram messenger app, the Dagestan Muftiate said it was introducing a "temporary" ban on the niqab after an appeal from Russia's ministry of nationality policy and religious affairs.

Reports following the attacks on June 23 said one of the gunmen had planned to escape wearing a niqab.

The muftiate, a religious organization representing Dagestani Muslims, said that the ban would remain in place "until the identified threats are eliminated and a new theological conclusion is reached."

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The niqab, a style of veil that covers most of the face and body, originated on the Arabian Peninsula and gained some popularity in Dagestan amid an Islamic revival in the region that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

 Members of security forces carry out a law enforcement operation after multiple attacks in Makhachkala and Derbent, in an undisclosed location in the region of Dagestan, Russia, in this still image from video released June 24, 2024.  (credit: National Antiterrorism Committee/Handout via REUTERS)
Members of security forces carry out a law enforcement operation after multiple attacks in Makhachkala and Derbent, in an undisclosed location in the region of Dagestan, Russia, in this still image from video released June 24, 2024. (credit: National Antiterrorism Committee/Handout via REUTERS)

Though only a small minority of Dagestani women wear full-face veils, niqabs have been a common sight in the region's larger cities.

Similar bannings

Similar veils are banned by law in several European and post-Soviet countries.

Twenty-two people were killed in simultaneous attacks on Orthodox churches, synagogues, and police checkpoints across Dagestan on June 23. Security forces said they killed five attackers in gun battles that left a synagogue in the city of Derbent gutted by flames.


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Dagestan was in the 2000s and 2010s plagued by an Islamist insurgency that spilled over from neighboring Chechnya, though security in the region had improved in recent years.

In October, an anti-Israeli mob stormed the airport in the Dagestani capital, Makhachkala, hunting for Israeli citizens and Jewish people arriving on a flight from Tel Aviv.

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Five months later, 145 people were killed in a March attack on a Moscow concert hall that was claimed by ISIS's Central Asian affiliate. Russian authorities detained several Tajikistani nationals it said had staged the gun and bomb attack.

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