Maybe they need freedom FROM religion too?

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This article points out so many problems that it's hard to sort them out.
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Rokaya Mohamed, an elementary school teacher, would rather die than take off her face veil, or niqab, thrusting her to the forefront of a battle by government-backed clerics to limit Islamism in Egypt.

Egypt's state-run religious establishment wants teachers like Mohamed to remove their veils in front of female students, sparking a backlash by Islamists who say women should be able to choose to cover their faces in line with their Islamic faith.

"I have put on the niqab because it is a Sunna (a tradition of the Muslim prophet Muhammad). It is something that brings me closer to religion and closer to the wives of the Prophet who used to wear it," she said
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Personally it points out the problems of a government trying to control any religious movements, or the practices of said religious members. It also points out how the powers that be are scared of religious backlash. And it's in a country dominated by moderate Muslims, who fear radical muslims. (Remember them, the ones BHO says we can talk to, negotiate with and who will live by their treaties. "HA", says I)
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So the Egyptian government is worried about a growing fundamentalist religious group, voting them out, in favor of the religious groups own, like minded, and preferred candidates, and the government is attempting to curtail outward showings of religious fealty, on government property, to squash "the appearance" of that growing thought pattern among the populace.
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Where, oh where, have I seen that before?
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The other thing I see, again, is the fundamentalist influence in the teacher there. It's backward from what we usually see here, but is this woman the exception there. Is she being told to drop here religious garb there, the same way Christians are pressured here? Isn't the government trying to keep her influence out, in favor of their own? And again, isn't that JUST like liberals here!?
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I won't go into the misogynistic aspect of Islam involved in convincing this woman that she shows her love of Allah, by hiding her face.
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I'm guessing that the Egyptians are no better at trusting the PEOPLE to choose the government they want, than our current group of officials are at allowing us, that same right here.
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Of course, I have no idea what the Egyptian Constitution says about of the people by the people, for the people, either. But I seem to remember that theme in our basic rules.
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Schteveo