More appeasement in the Netherlands....

They`ve let one muslim lawyer change the rules for courtrooms...

The appeals chamber of the Bar Association's disciplinary council has acquitted lawyer Mohammed Enait of contempt of court. He has the right not to rise when the judge enters the courtroom and can wear a Muslim hat during sessions, it ruled Friday.

It is customary for lawyers to stand up during court cases when the judge enters the courtroom. Enait deliberately refuses to do so. His argument is that his religion maintains that everyone is equal and as a Muslim, he therefore does not want to behave subserviently.

The disciplinary council of the Bar Association reprimanded the Islamic lawyer in May. On three points, he showed contempt of court, it ruled; he refuses to rise, wears an Islamic head-covering during sessions and showed contempt of a judge in a TV talkshow.

But the appeal chamber acquitted the lawyer on all three counts Friday. His refusal to rise and his headgear are not meant to show contempt of court, in its view. And in the TV programme his relative lack of experience as a lawyer played a role.

Enait appears regularly in talk-shows on TV. He is known for his complicated vocabulary, preferably using at least one difficult word in every sentence.

The lawyer earlier became the focus of satire after it emerged that the secretaries portrayed on the website of his office were porn actresses. Enait refuses to shake hands with women.