Fatma Nabil made her first appearance on the Channel 1 in Cairo, wearing a cream colored veil, reflecting a shift in state-controlled media since the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak.

The lifting of the ban is the latest move by authorities under new Islamist President Mohammed Mursi, which are making sweeping changes to state media.

The ban on female news readers wearing the Islamic headscraf had long been criticised by and human rights activists as an violation on personal freedoms especially in a country where the vast majority of adult women wear a veil.

TV official Mohammed Fathi told AP that Nabil’s appearance would encourage many other women who wished to wear the veil but feared losing their jobs.
 Nabil had worked for a year in the Muslim Brotherhood TV network Misr 25 after she was barred by state TV from appearing on air because of her veil.

“Now the standards have nothing to do with the veil, which is a personal choice, but are all about professional skills and intellect,” she told the Associated Press. 

Until the revolution that toppled Mubarak last year and brought Islamist President Mohamed Mursi to power, women in Islamic headscarves had kept out of the media.

Four veiled presenters have so far obtained permission to appear veiled on TV; one on Channel 1 and three on Nile News, according to Al Arabiya while a fifth, who also works in Nile News, has submitted a request after having recently put on the veil

State-owned television, which employees nearly 40,000 staff, is among the largest employers of public servants in the country, Al Jazeera writes as it has long been associated with the ruling elite and plagued by corruption.