The police department in the Bulgarian city of Pazardzhik has announced it has not declined any application for new passports of Muslim women who are veiled with headscarves on their photos.

The spokesman of the regional police office, Miroslav Stoyanov, said Monday that applications with photos of veiled Muslim women have not been rejected but did not mention the exact number of such documents.

Stoyanov claimed that issuing new passports happens only when the requirements have been met, which means that the photo must display about 1 cm of the person's hair and their ears.

“The demand of all the applicants have been respected,” he said.

According to him, there have been no problems with issuing the new identity documents, despite the people's ethnicity.

“Taking a photos with headscarf on is not a problem as long as the legal requirements are met,” he added.

In the end of June, the Mufti Office from the Bulgarian city of Smolyan has demanded that the regional police department allow Muslim women to take their new passport pictures with headscarves on.

The Regional Mufti Nedzhmi Dabov has announced that the requirements for the pictures with biometric data are in conflict with the Islamic canon that the Muslim woman should not display other parts of her body except her face and her hands up to her wrists.

The demand of Mufti Nedzhim Dabov has not been supported by the regional Mufti from the Bulgarian city of Kardzhali, the Bulgarian party “Movement for Rights and Freedoms” (DPS) and the police department of Smolyan.

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