EGYPT: Whoa, there's a man behind that veil

You can cross-dress, but you can’t hide without the right shoes.

The Egypt Daily News reported that a man was arrested when he crashed the wedding of his lover wearing a niqab, a face veil, and the full-length robe worn by many conservative Muslim women. The man and the bride-to-be had apparently fallen in love at work, but the woman had been promised to another suitor in an arranged marriage.

The jilted 26-year-old man, whose identity was not disclosed, rounded up his cousin for some help. They donned niqabs and robes and tried to sneak into the reception. The rest reads like a desperate, if not dashing, attempt (think Dustin Hoffman in "The Graduate" and "Tootsie") by a man trying to win back his sweetheart. The jig was up when police noticed a fashion no-no.

The first suspect disguised himself, but he forgot to wear women’s shoes, according to the newspaper. “Outside the club stood the security men who suspected the confused lover. . . . The man confessed that he wore the niqab to be able to bid farewell to his beloved on her wedding night.”

The postscript: “A note on the incident was filed, the clothes were seized.”

—Jeffrey Fleishman in Cairo

Photo: Muslim women in Egypt wearing the niqab, or full face veil, walk to Friday prayers at a mosque in Cairo. Credit: Amr Nabil /AFP

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