Several Gaza-based human rights groups slammed on Monday a decision made by an Islamic Hamas movement court that requires female attorneys to wear headscarfs and long-sleeved dresses while they are in court.

The Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) said in a press release sent to reporters that the judicial decision was issued on July 9 by the head of the highest council of justice and the chief of the high court in Gaza Abdel Ra'oof el-Halabi.

El-Halabi's decision says: "Female attorneys should wear the Hijab (headscarf) and the Jilbab (long-sleeved dress) while they are in court. The decision will be effective by September 1, 2009," according to PCHR.

Hamas, as an Islamic movement, seized control of the impoverished enclave of the Gaza Strip in June 2007, and routed moderate President Mahmoud Abbas security forces.

"The center believes that this decision contradicts with the law and represents an unjustified interference into the lawyers' affairs. It seriously hurt private freedom and women's rights by imposing the Hijab and the Jilbab," said PCHR.

El-Halabi's decision also involved male advocates, who should wear a unified court uniform. It said that female advocates should be committed to their new court uniform and must wear the Islamic women uniform while they are in court.

The deposed Hamas government in Gaza denied earlier reports that it had taken measures to restrict general liberty and impose Islamic rules in the Gaza Strip.

"The government denies that it had made any new decision or given instructions violating the existed laws regarding that issue," said Taher al-Nounuo, a spokesman for Hamas government.

"The reports try to convoy an unrealistic image of the situation in the Gaza Strip," he added in a statement sent to the media.

However, al-Nounuo stressed that his government, which seized power after routing the secular Fatah movement of president Mahmoud Abbas in 2007, "is extremely observing the general morals and it keeps calling for kind ethics."

The ministry of religious affairs in Gaza has launched a campaign calling for removing any scene that doesn't meet the Islam. For example, preachers toured Gaza markets and urged store owners to hide posters that show women images.

(Xinhua News Agency July 28, 2009)