Excerpt:
A Muslim leader convicted of raping three young girls in Detroit is to be sentenced Wednesday in a case that features a constitutional debate over whether women who wear an Islamic face veil should be allowed to testify with it on.
The case deals with two potentially conflicting freedoms protected under the U.S. Constitution: freedom of religion and the right of accusers to confront witnesses in court.
On May 2, a Wayne County jury found Mohammad Masroor, 51, guilty of 15 counts of criminal sexual conduct in 2000 against three female relatives who were 10, 12 and 13 years old at the time. His attorney maintains the imam didn't get a fair trial because some of his witnesses testified wearing a niqab, an Islamic face veil that covers up a woman's entire head except for a narrow slit that shows only her eyes.