Reitnau, Switzerland - Sura Al-Shawk, a Muslim woman, has been told by the Swiss basketball association Probasket, that she is forbidden to wear her religious headscarf during league play.

Any games that Al-Shawk participates in while wearing her headscarf, will be automatically be forfeited and counted as a loss for her club STV Luzern.

(Discuss FIBA’s decision)

Al-Shawk is a 19-year-old Swiss citizen of Iraqi origin. Her club had sought permission for her to wear he headscarf from the governing body.

Probasket responded that FIBA rules and regulations state that the sport has to be “neutral, forbidding religious symbols and headcovers.”

”If basketball is priority No. 1, international rules have to be respected,” the Swiss authorities told Neue Luzerner Zeitung, a Swiss newspaper. “If religion is priority No. 1, then you cannot play basketball.”

The controversy comes nearly two months after the women’s basketball team from Bahrain refused to remove their hijabs in another international competition, the Asian Youth Games, that was held in early July 2009 (discuss).

”I really can’t understand what is happening here,” Al-Shawk told Neue Luzerner Zeitung.

”I would not have thought it possible that in a country like Switzerland a headscarf in sport would pose a problem.”

Al-Shawk has not made a decision on whether to participate in the league or not. STV Luzern is to debut next month in a regional women’s league.

You can read the original article by the AP here.