THE image of a pious girl wrenched from her studies for refusing to bare her ankles in school was severely damaged when it emerged that she had taken advice from the radical Muslim group Hizb ut-Tahrir.

The group, which campaigns for Britain to be subjected to Islamic rule, confirmed yesterday that it had counselled Shabina Begum to insist on wearing a full-length jilbab in lessons.

The extremist party, which Tony Blair wants to ban in response to the London bombings, insisted that it had nothing to do with her legal battle. Shabina was just turning 14 when her brother, then a 19-year-old university student, and another man took her, wearing the jilbab, to school on the first day of term in 2002.

Lord Scott of Foscote, in his judgment yesterday, noted that it seemed to be the men who were requiring Shabina to cover up.

They had sought out and told the assistant head teacher that the girl must be allowed to wear the garment or they would sue the school. The Law Lord described their approach as “unnecessarily confrontational”.

The family has made it clear that they never sought financial compensation and that no money had come from Hizb ut-Tahrir.

Julia Wayment, who advised Shabina at the Children’s Legal Centre, a charity promoting child rights, said that it had taken instructions directly from the girl. Shabina’s mother had been alive when the case began and supported the action, the lawyer said.

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