A school in The Hague does not have to pay compensation to two Muslim sisters who missed their annual school photograph because it clashed with the end of Ramadan, appeal court judges said on Tuesday.

A lower court last year awarded the family €500, saying the school had indirectly discriminated against the children by breaching their legal right to equal treatment.

The appeal court, however, said the school had done enough to take the end of Ramadan into account by commissioning the photographer to come on what it thought was the day after Eid al-Fitr.

The court said it had taken the ‘unfortunate planning’ into account as well as the fact that the school had offered the girls alternatives. ‘The sisters are on other class photos and individual photographs of them have also been taken,’ the court said.

The girl’s mother had asked for €10,000 in compensation for missing the school photograph. The court also ruled the girls’ parents should pay the school’s legal costs, which run into thousands of euros, RTL Nieuws reported.