Female Politician Attacked by Muslim Over Burka Protest May be Jailed

Obviously it’s the native Italian woman protesting the Burka who will be jailed, not the Muslim immigrant male who attacked her.

A Milan prosecutor has requested a one-month prison sentence and €100 fine for Daniela Santanchè, an ex-leader of the Movement for Italy party, now a faction of Silvio Berlusconi’s People of Freedom party, for organizing an anti-burqa protest in 2009 without permission.

Santanchè protested against the burqa as 3,000 Muslims gathered to celebrate the end of Ramadan at Milan’s La Fabbrica del Vapore, a cultural centre, in September 2009.
“I saw dozens of women walking around with this portable prison that is the burqa,” said Santanché.

Daniela Santanchè said that she went to see “in person” if Muslim women respected the “law of the Italian state” that they can not go in the street with their faces covered. And since that day she has seen “dozens in a burqa”, partook in a discussion with the men of the Muslim community who insulted her. “I’d gone there to tell them that the law must be respected.”

Santanchè, along with 12 other activists, reportedly asked women entering the building to “uncover their face”. She also called on Italian police to apply a law that has been in place since the 1970s forbidding any dress that hides a person’s face.

The protest provoked anger among the Muslim community, ending with an Egyptian man, Ahmed El Badry, assaulting Santanchè. El Badry was fined €2,000.

“Santanchè went at the end of Ramadan to remove the burqa,” said the Imam of Segrate. “Ramadan is an important holiday for one million Muslims in Italy, she has offended them,” he continued wishing that Santanchè burn in the “fire on the day of judgment”.

Until then, he can be satisfied that an Italian woman protesting the Burka will be jailed, but not the Muslim immigrant who attacked her to defend his right to abuse women with the Burka.

Muslim students banned from wearing veils at Birmingham Metropolitan College

Angry Muslim students have hit out at college chiefs after being banned from wearing religious veils for “security” reasons.
All students, staff and visitors to Birmingham Metropolitan College have been told to remove any face coverings so individuals are “easily identifiable at all times”.
But the controversial ban of the niqab - a veil that leaves only a slot for the eyes - has sparked fury among some Muslim girls, who say they are being discriminated against.
The policy was revealed just days after politicians discussed banning the burka. Kettering MP Philip Hollobone - who refuses to see constituents who will not lift their veils - raised the issue in a Private Member’s Bill, saying it “goes against the basic part of the British way of life”.
News of the policy at the Birmingham college was broken to one prospective Muslim student at the start of the new term last week.
The angry 17-year-old girl, who did not want to be named, said: “It’s disgusting.
"It is a personal choice and I find it absolutely shocking that this has been brought in at a college in Birmingham city centre when the city is so multicultural and so many of the students are Muslim.
“It upsets me that we are being discriminated against.
“I don’t think my niqab prevents me from studying or communicating with anyone - I’ve never had any problems in the city before.”
The teenager was so upset at the policy that she says she decided to look for another college place in the city.
Hoodies, hats and caps have also been banned at the college, which was formed after the merger of Matthew Boulton and Sutton Colfield colleges.
Principal and chief executive Dame Christine Braddock DBE, said the policy had been in place for some time and had been developed to keep students safe.
She said: “We have a very robust Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Policy at Birmingham Metropolitan College but we are committed to ensuring that students are provided with a safe and welcoming learning environment whilst studying with us.
“To ensure that safeguarding is a priority, we have developed our policy alongside student views to ensure we keep them safe.
“This needs individuals to be easily identifiable at all times when they are on college premises and this includes the removal of hoodies, hats, caps and veils so that faces are visible.
“All prospective and progressing students, as well as staff, have been advised of the policy, which will mean everyone allowed on the premises can understand and know each other in a safe environment.”
But another student at the college, Imaani Ali, 17, said her “freedom has been breached” by the rule.
“Me and another friend who wears the veil were only told we wouldn’t be allowed inside the college after we had enrolled,” the applied sciences student told the Mail.
“They haven’t provided us with another alternative. We said we would happily show the men at security our faces so they could check them against our IDs, but they won’t let us.
“It’s a breach of my freedom and I feel discriminated against. This is my religion, it is what I believe in.
“I don’t really want to go to a place that doesn’t accept me but I have no choice now.”
But other students at the college - which has several campuses across the West Midlands including the former Matthew Boulton city centre facility - agreed with the ban.
Chante Young, 17, who is studying business, said: “You don’t know who is underneath it. You can’t see any of their face - only their eyes.”
The college welcomes around 9,000 16-19-year-olds each year, as well as 35,000 adult learners and more than 250 international students.
Its website boasts that international students receive “supportive personal attention” and it was shortlisted for an AOC Beacon award in 2011 for International Learner Support.
What the BMC students say
Nicola Zelek, 17, who is studying applied sciences, maths and English, said: “They should be allowed to wear them because it’s their religion.
“Other girls wear skirts and short tops and no-one will say anything to them.”
Anna Dorj, 18, who is studying business, said: “I believe it is good for security. You can’t see their face and it is hard to communicate with them.”
Ozayr Mir, 17, also studies business. He said: “The rule is alright if it is for security reasons. They aren’t being asked to show off their body parts.”
Ellie Crossingham, 18, is on a business and law course and said: “I can see both sides.
“It is their religion and I think you have to respect people’s views, but I don’t think it’s fair that you can’t see their faces, for safety reasons. You’re not allowed to wear helmets or hats.”
Suleman Hussain, 17, is taking A-level science at the college and disagreed about the policy. He said: “They’re not going to bring a bomb to college. They have come here to learn.”

Hijab first in British parliament

Youth Parliament member elected to represent views of young people in their area to government. PHOTO: REUTERS

LONDON: A 16-year-old girl is thought to have become the first person to speak from the House of Commons despatch box in the British parliament while wearing a hijab, The Times newspaper reported Saturday.

Sumaiya Karim a biology, chemistry, history and maths student, was speaking as the Youth Parliament held its annual session in the lower house’s chamber, where Britain’s MPs gather.

Karim, from Wokingham, west of London, said: “Wearing the hijab was my own choice.”

British ministers and opposition shadow ministers stand at the despatch boxes when they address the Commons.

The democratically elected Youth Parliament members, aged 11 to 18, are elected to represent the views of young people in their area to government.

Ban the burqa protest offends Sydneysiders

A group of protesters wearing burqas gathered in various places in Sydney today to argue for Australia to ban the face veil.

They say the wearing of the Islamic headwear donned by women, should be outlawed because they pose a security risk.

Security and police were called when the burqa-clad non-Muslims incited anger outside state Parliament House.

Members of the public were extremely offended by the male protesters wearing the burqa.

Zubeda Raihman from the Muslim Women's National Network says, "I think it is pretty offensive because we live in this democratic country and we are given the freedom of choice."
The group ventured to the Downing Centre Local Court, a city pub, a bank, and the NSW Parliament House.

VLAAMS BELANG DEWINTER HAS DAUGHTER DRESS IN ‘BURKINI’, MUSLIMS OUTRAGED…….

Oh, and pay no attention to the Daily Mail’s usage of ‘far right’ and ‘extremist party’ bull crap, anyone who challenges the EU and multiculturalism and Islamization is automatically labelled with those slanderous monikers.







More here.
NOTE: The VB is the rare political party in Europe that calls for limited government, lower taxes and dispersion of political power.

Belgian cop attacked for trying to unveil Muslim woman

Belgium banned wearing of the niqab, in June.

A police officer has been attacked by a Muslim man in Brussels after he demanded that the man’s wife remove her veil. Belgium outlawed the wearing of Islamic garments which cover the face.

The incident occurred after the couple was spotted by a police squad patrolling the Saint-Josse community – a neighborhood where many immigrants live, reports Belga news agency.

One of the officers demanded the woman’s ID and wanted to see her face for proper identification. The husband became angry and threatened the officers with death should they ever come close to his wife again.

The ensuing quarrel quickly became a fistfight, which ended with one of the policemen receiving mild injuries.

The 37-year-old assailant was detained and charged with attacking an officer of the law. His wife will be issued a fine for wearing the forbidden garment.

Belgium banned wearing of clothes that hide face, such as the burqa or the niqab, in June. Violations carry a 137.5 euro fine and up to seven days in jail.

France was the first European country to ban the face-concealing Muslim garments in April.

Veiled Egyptian woman kidnapped, gang-raped

Egyptian women continue to struggle with the daily sexual violence against them.

CAIRO: In a new indication that sexual violence is not restricted to how one dresses in Egypt, a fully-veiled woman was kidnapped and gang-raped for an entire day in Giza. Police arrested five men and have charged them with kidnapping, rape and robbery.

Investigators are looking for another three suspects allegedly involved in the crime.

The woman, 33, unidentified by local reports, was kidnapped from the neighborhood of Imbaba by a Toktok driver, a small one-man motorbike vehicle that has linked to many crimes in the area, including many thefts.

The Giza governorate has pushed efforts to regulate the transportation means, but has failed many times, including only the day before the start of the holy month of Ramadan.

The woman was reportedly out buying groceries before three men dragged her into the vehicle, covered her eyes and took her to an unknown apartment. The three called five other friends and they all took turns raping her for a full day, according to the woman’s testimonies.

The five who have been arrested have confessed to police and told them about the others who were involved in the crime. One of the arrested men had been released from prison three-months earlier, also kidnapping and raping a woman in the neighborhood of Haram, also in Giza.

The woman also said that they stole a sum of 3,000 Egyptian pounds she was using to buy Ramadan groceries.

Internationally Cairo is know for its safety, but growing and daily sexual harassment and assaults have left many questioning the city’s status.

According to a 2008 study published by the Egyptian Center for Women’s Rights (ECWR) 60 percent of Egyptian women and 98 percent of foreign women are harassed on a daily basis. The ECWR warned that harassing foreign women would lead to the loss of millions of pounds. A number of foreigners said they would never return to Egypt. 14 percent of all foreign women said they would either never return to Egypt or tell their friends not to visit.

With violence against women on the rise, many wonder if the authorities will do anything to impede these crimes.

“The man was in jail before for kidnap and rape, yet he was let go and he did it again?” asked Mona Hassan, a 28-year-old researcher in Cairo. She then asked the question that is certain to be on many women’s minds in the near future: “What will they do now with these men? We need harsh laws that ensure a woman’s right to walk on the street. It is unacceptable what is happening to Egypt and its women.”

BM

Jihadis Threaten Belgium Over Burqa Ban

A typical call for interfaith dialogue from the al-Qaeda-linked Shumukh al-Islam forum

“O Allah, destroy their buildings with explosives, their cars with booby-traps, and their men with sniper rifles,” Contributor, al-Qaeda-linked Shumukh al-Islam Jihad Forum

A terrorism-monitoring organization said Friday that jihadists are threatening Belgium with terrorism for having imposed a burqa ban.

In an email to subscribers, the United States-based SITE Monitoring Service quoted posts on jihadist internet sites as urging the bombing, torture and killing of Belgians. In its introduction to the posts, SITE made no assessment of the severity of the threat.

According to SITE, on July 24 — the day after Belgium’s burqa ban took effect — someone called Faz al-Shaheed posted a comment on the Shumukh al-Islam forum saying, “This is what your parliament unanimously decided except for one representative, to ban the wearing of the veil in your small country. So, by this decision you have ignited unto yourselves a fire without an extinguisher. … I urge our Muslim brethren in Belgium to do what they can of bombing, destroying, torturing and assassinating them, because they are the ones who started it.”


That post drew several like-minded comments on the burqa ban in response, SITE said.

“O Allah, destroy their buildings with explosives, their cars with booby-traps, and their men with sniper rifles,” someone using the name Fashudu al-Withaq wrote, the monitoring organization said.

Another poster, using the name Asad al-Malhama, reportedly gave technical suggestions for making a bomb, then added, “Don’t forget to add nails and shrapnel on the outside in order to cause the largest number of death and injuries to the criminal enemies of Allah.”

Another poster urged that “gifts” for France not be forgotten, as France was the first country in Europe to ban the veil.

Belgium’s ban on wearing the burqa took effect July 23, having been overwhelmingly approved by the parliament. Its supporters said it was needed as a security measure.

A lawyer representing two Belgian women who wear the burqa has appealed to a court to declare the ban unconstitutional.

“Don’t forget to add nails and shrapnel on the outside in order to cause the largest number of death and injuries to the criminal enemies of Allah.”

This isn’t your typical keyboard warrior/Jihadi Kidz talking shop. The password-protected Shumukh al-Islam forum is closely linked to al-Qaeda, and in addition to the usual incitement to violence against the kuffar, the site boasts training courses, manuals and other resources for the well-connected Jihadi.

So these are not idle threats. But it’s doubtful anyone will notice until something bad happens. Despite this story revealing real, deadly threats and violent incitement against an EU member state for imposing a burqa ban, it has been buried by Western mainstream media. in fact is has received much greater coverage in Islamic countries.

Despite the ‘nose-on-your-face’ evidence of Islam’s supremacist onslaught against the values of the West, most media and élite commentators seem to prefer to pin the blame for global jihad on blond, ‘white supremacist fundamentalist Christians’.
[Source: AP]

Imam, school principal shot dead in Russia's Dagestan

Russia:Village imam was shot dead during evening prayer in Russia's restive Dagestan region late Saturday, the region's interior ministry said.

Imam Magomed Makhdiyev was shot in the back and head by an unidentified gunman in Karamakhi village mosque during evening prayer, Dagestan's interior ministry said on its website on Sunday.

Makhdiyev died at the scene, the ministry said.

It was the second known murder of an imam in less than a month in Dagestan, where religious and educational leaders appear to be increasingly targeted as Russia fights an Islamist insurgency in the North Caucasus.

A school principal was targeted early Saturday in a different region of Dagestan. Sidikullah Akhmedov, who worked in the Sovetskoye village school, died on the spot near his home from wounds to the stomach, the ministry said.

Islamist website JamaatShariat.com, affiliated to the Caucasus Emirate group, called Akhmedov an "adversary of Islam" who opposed the wearing of the hijab in school.

Dagestan has experienced some of the deadliest violence in Russia's mostly Muslim southern periphery since peace was largely restored in neighbouring Chechnya just under a decade ago.

No Instruction Non-muslim Female Journalist Must Wear Headscarves - PAS

KUALA LUMPUR, May 31 (Bernama) -- PAS has denied that it had set rules requiring non-Muslim female journalists to wear headscarves when covering the party's Muktamar (general assembly) this weekend.

PAS secretary-general Datuk Mustapha Ali said some media organisation may have misunderstood the advice given by the organising secretariat as the requirement to wear headscarves only applied to Muslim female journalists.

"I believe it is a misunderstanding. Perhaps it was not stated clearly in the advisory," he said when contacted.

He was commenting on the statement by Wanita MCA secretary-general Chew Lee Giok who criticised PAS for enforcing a dress code on non-Muslim journalists covering its Muktamar from June 3-5.

Chew claimed the requirement for female journalists to don headscarves and barring skirts and dresses was discriminatory.

"The choice of personal clothing is a fundamental and individual right. This is a clear example of PAS depriving people of their personal liberties. In a multi-racial country, I absolutely respect the Muslim dress code, but we also want PAS to respect non-Muslims' customs and choices," she said.

On Monday, the PAS Muktamar organising committee sent out an advisory on the dress code during the Muktamar, which required those covering the muktamar -- both Muslims and non-Muslims - to dress neatly in non-revealing clothes.

French court approves veil ban

France's highest court has approved a law banning full-facial veils in public - with the exception of mosques - eliminating the last hurdle for the ban.

Those behind the law argue that it will protect women's rights. Its critics, however, say that it stigmatises Muslim women and it is a breach of religious freedom.

The court found the law to be constitutional, bar in the case of places of worship.

"The ban on covering the face in public places cannot constrain the practice of religious freedom in places of worship that are open to the public," the court said in its judgment, a nominal nod to religious freedoms.

The decision in favour of the law by the constitutional council came as a surprise to many. The court had warned that the ban – which includes the niqab and the burqa, but not the hijab – might be unconstitutional.

The path is now clear for the law to be implemented in early 2011, after a six month period of "mediation" and "education".

"It's regrettable that this problem has gone on for a year," M'hammed Henniche, general secretary of the Union of Muslim Associations, told Al Jazeera.

"There are other more important priorities for France."

What the law means

The ban prohibits anyone from covering their face in public, from government buildings to streets, markets and private business and entertainment venues.

The opposition Socialist party had supported a ban in government buildings only, but had chosen not to challenge the legislation proposed by the ruling UMP party.

In six months time, women wearing a facial veil will face arrest and a fine of $195 or "citizenship lessons".

A man who forces a woman to wear a burqa or niqab will be fined $42,000 and serve up to a year in prison.

Secular values or racism?

While the law makes no mention of Islam, many see it as a part of a wider attack on their religious identity.

The government of Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, has framed the ban as protecting women's rights.

Its opponents say that far from protecting women, the law breaches French and European human rights standards.

As in the case of its deportations of Roma, France is testing the limits of European Commission standards. France is the first European nation to ban the veil, but many have similar legislation pending.

The court's decision came on the same day as news of an alleged official file listing "Non-Settled Ethnic Minorities" broke, fuelling further criticisms that French authorities have discriminated against the Roma.

"Yes symbols are important.. But I don't see this positively. The same day we discover ethnic files held by the police. These really aren't good news," Jean Leonguy, a French reader, wrote in response to an article on Le Monde, a daily French newspaper.

Other Le Monde readers, such as Jean-Yves Chailleux, were more favourable to the ban:

"Being very attached to secular values, I can only celebrate this decision."

'Paternalistic evolution'

With Thursday's stamp of approval from the constitutional council, only the European Court of Human Rights could strike down the law.

Yet many legal experts have expressed scepticism over the legislation's legality.

"In the current state of positive law, the general prohibition of the wearing of the burqa would be extremely fragile," Denys de Bechillon, a jurist specialising in constitutional law, told the daily newspaper Liberation earlier this year.

He said it would raise more problems that it would solve, and "would signal a terrible paternalistic evolution".

Following its approval by the French Senate, or upper house of parliament, members of Sarkozy's own party had themselves immediately sent the law to the constitutional court in September, in a bid to pre-empt any potential legal challenges.

Henniche told Al Jazeera that several organisations are considering to challenge the law before the European Court of Human Rights.

The European court has dismissed previous challenges to bans on the veil in public schools.

Awkward questions

The most humoristic challenge to the law so far has come from a video made by two young French women, published last week on the leftwing website Rue89.

Going by the pseudonym "NiqaBitch", the pair filmed themselves visiting various government departments wearing an unusual combination of burqas and minishorts, revealing their legs while covering their heads.

The anonymous web activists wrote in an editorial that accompanied the video that they wanted to challenge the authorities by "turning away the classic representation that we have of the niqab".

"Putting on a simple burqa would have been too easy. So we asked the question: how would the authorities react when faced with women wearing a burqa and minishorts?"

Source: Al Jazeera and agencies

French senate approves burqa ban

 

A woman wearing a niqab veil participates in a protest 

against a ban earlier this year in Tours, central France.

 

Paris, France (CNN) -- The French senate approved Tuesday a law banning any veils that cover the face -- including the burqa, the full-body covering worn by some Muslim women -- making France the first European country to plan such a measure.

The law passed by a vote of 246 to 1, with about 100 abstentions coming essentially from left-leaning politicians.

The legislation was overwhelmingly approved by the lower house of parliament in July and will go into effect next spring.

French people back the ban by a margin of more than four to one, the Pew Global Attitudes Project found in a survey earlier this year.

Some 82 percent of people polled approved of a ban, while 17 percent disapproved. That was the widest support the Washington-based think tank found in any of the five countries it surveyed.

Clear majorities also backed burqa bans in Germany, Britain and Spain, while two out of three Americans opposed it, the survey found.

A panel of French lawmakers recommended a ban last year, and lawmakers unanimously passed a non-binding resolution in May calling the full-face veil contrary to the laws of the nation.

"Given the damage it produces on those rules which allow the life in community, ensure the dignity of the person and equality between sexes, this practice, even if it is voluntary, cannot be tolerated in any public place," the French government said when it sent the measure to parliament in May.

The law imposes a fine of 150 euros ($190) and/or a citizenship course as punishment for wearing a face-covering veil. Forcing a woman to wear a niqab or a burqa will be punishable by a year in prison or a 15,000-euro ($19,000) fine, the government said, calling it "a new form of enslavement that the republic cannot accept on its soil."

The French Council of State has warned that the ban could be incompatible with international human rights laws and the country's own constitution. The council advises on laws, but the government is not required to follow its recommendations.

The ban pertains to the burqa, a full-body covering that includes a mesh over the face, and the niqab, a full-face veil that leaves an opening only for the eyes. The hijab, which covers the hair and neck but not the face, and the chador, which covers the body but not the face, apparently are not banned by the law.

However, a 2004 law in France bans the wearing or displaying of overt religious symbols in schools -- including the wearing of headscarves by schoolgirls.

The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life estimates that France has about 3.5 million Muslims, or about 6 percent of the population.

France does not keep its own statistics on religious affiliation of the population, in keeping with its laws requiring the state to be strictly secular.

School’s tudung ‘ruling’ leaves parent fuming

The Sun 
by Maria J.Dass

PETALING JAYA (Aug 26, 2010): A Muslim parent in Labuan is outraged over her daughter being harassed by school authorities of Sekolah Menengah St Anne for not wearing a tudung to school during Ramadan.

Sunita Klinck took the school to task after her daughter was issued with a "summons" and threatened with caning for not adhering to the "ruling".

"When my daughter said neither she nor her parents saw it necessary for her to wear a tudung seeing that no such rule appears to have been formalised, two teachers attempted to intimidate her into complying,” Klinck told theSun today.

"Two male discipline teachers even held her captive in an office with the doors shut for about 20 minutes, while brandishing a cane to threaten her into complying with the rule," she said.

"They even went as far as to suggest that she borrow a tudung and secretly wear it during the school day, 'so that her parents would not know about it'."

"This is so disgusting! Really disgusting!" said Klinck who has taken up the matter with the state education department and the Education Ministry.

She said the teachers, at a recent meeting, told her she could write in to say she does not want her daughter to wear the headscarf, but Klinck sees no need for this as the policy imposed by the school is not one endorsed by the education department.

She said before enrolling her daughter in the school last year, she had specifically asked if, other than the standard uniform, there was a requirement for the tudung to be worn in the school, and was told it was "not mandatory".

Klinck who is married to a British Muslim, said her daughter has been traumatised by the whole incident and now refuses to go to school as she is afraid of what the two teachers will do to her.

"I want the school to assure me that my daughter will not be in contact either directly or indirectly with the two teachers, and that she is not in the same vicinity as them," she said, adding that she is contemplating legal action.

"These two discipline teachers need to be disciplined themselves, and appropriate action should be taken against them," said Klinck.

In a Daily Express report published on Wednesday, SM St Anne principal Chan Kwi Fong admitted that the ruling was not sanctioned by the ministry but said that if the parents did not want their child to wear the tudung, the school could have been informed and no confusion would have arisen.

She explained that Muslim students were asked to wear the headscarf because of the fasting month.

The aim of the rule she said, was to encourage mutual respect for different religious beliefs.

When contacted, Education Ministry Director-General Tan Sri Alimuddin Mohd Dom said he was not aware of the case but would check on the matter.

Is Syria Anti-Muslims?

By G. Krishnan

Following the French government’s effort to ban the niqab and burka in public premises, it must come as particularly surprising to many that Syria appears to be following in the footsteps of France (and Turkey) by restricting the use of the niqab.

Based on recent reports in the international media, it appears that “Syria has forbidden the country's students and teachers from wearing the niqab”.

The Syrian government, grounded in secularism, seems intent on keeping what it sees as “extremism” in check. Perhaps not so ironically, we have not heard much of an outcry against Syria from religious zealots and various misguided liberals, as we did when this issue in the French context first became widely publicised.

I am curious if the religious zealots and even pseudo-liberals will also jump on the case of the Syrian government and accuse it of being anti-Islamic. Perhaps the pseudo-liberals and religious extremists do believe that Syria, whose population is well over 85 percent Muslim, has a government that is anti-Muslim?

If I were a betting person, however, I would bet that we won’t find a hue and cry in the Islamic world about Syria’s recent action to ban the niqab and burka as we did when the topic happen to make the headlines in the case of France.

It is understandable that religious zealots would invariably have an issue with secular principles. However, it is deeply disappointing indeed when so-called liberals jump on the same bandwagon with religious bigots to condemn secular governments such as France when it seeks to elevate and preserve secularism.

It seems that pseudo-liberals have a problem when a secular country such as France seeks to preserve its identity as a secular nation, but become tongue-tied when predominantly Muslim countries such as Syria or Turkey act in a similar vein to affirm their commitment to secularism.

Too many liberals are quick to latch on to simplistic claims about xenophobia, anti-Islamism, and such without appreciating the more subtle and nuanced elements of such means to preserve the distinction between religion and a secular system of governance.

We’ve seen all too well what tends to happen when a secular government begins to indulge - and then over-indulges – religion, and especially self-professed religious experts.     

Despite all its flaws and shortcomings, hats off to the Syrian government – a member of the Organisation of Islamic Conference - for understanding the need to preserve religion in the private sphere.  

G. Krishnan

French deputies pass face veil ban

Michele Alliot-Marie, the justice minister, said that life in France is 'carried out with a bare face' [AFP] France's lower house of parliament has voted to ban the wearing of face-covering veils in public places by 336 votes to one in the 557-seat assembly. The bill, which has received overwhelming support in opinion polls, must now be ratified by the senate in September to become law. The opposition Socialist party, who originally wanted the ban limited only to public buildings, boycotted Tuesday's vote. France's highest administrative body warned in March that the bill could be found to be unconstitutional and therefore thrown out. Estelle Youssouffa, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Paris, said: "The Council of the State warned the government that the French law and the EU law could find this bill unconstitutional, as it violates human rights and religious freedom." 'Bare face' The bill makes it illegal to cover the face anywhere in public and those caught wearing a full veil would face fines of $190 or be ordered to enrol in a "citizenship course".

Men who force their wives or daughters to wear the full veil face a fine of up to $37,754 and a one-year jail term, according to the draft legislation.

Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, said earlier this year that the full veil "hurts the dignity of women and is not acceptable in French society".

Life in France is "carried out with a bare face", Michele Alliot-Marie, the justice minister, said last week as she opened the debate in the National Assembly.

Face-covering veils "call into question the idea of integration, which is founded on the acceptance of the values of our society", Alliot-Marie said.

Muslim fears

The main body representing French Muslims says face-covering veils are not required by Islam and not suitable in France, but it worries that the law will stigmatise Muslims in general.

The veil is widely seen in France as a sign of extremism and an attack on women's rights and secularism, a central value of modern-day France.

Critics say the ban is a ploy to attract far-right voters.

Our correspondent said the Muslim community in France is uncomfortable with the bill and feels it is stigmatising the whole community.

"French Muslims say less than only 2,000 women use the veil and are seen as ultra-orthodox minority and do not represent the whole community," she said.

In April, politicians in Belgium's lower house voted almost unanimously to ban the wearing of face veils in public places.

French parliament debates burqa ban

The French bill could mean a possible prison sentence for people who force women to wear full face veils

 

Paris, France (CNN) -- The French parliament begins debate Tuesday on a bill that would ban women from wearing Islamic veils, such as the burqa, that fully cover the face and body.

A vote is not expected until next week, after which the measure, if passed, will go to the French Senate for a vote likely in the fall.

The French Council of Ministers approved the measure in May, saying veils that cover the face "cannot be tolerated in any public place." Their approval sent the bill to parliament.

The parliamentary debate starting Tuesday is the latest step in France's efforts to ban the burqa, niqab and other Muslim garments that cover a woman's face.

A panel of French lawmakers recommended a ban last year, and lawmakers unanimously passed a non-binding resolution in May calling the full-face veil contrary to the laws of the nation.

"Given the damage it produces on those rules which allow the life in community, ensure the dignity of the person and equality between sexes, this practice, even if it is voluntary, cannot be tolerated in any public place," the French government said when it sent the measure to parliament in May.

The bill envisions a fine of 150 euros ($190) and/or a citizenship course as punishment for wearing a face-covering veil.

Forcing a woman to wear a niqab or a burqa would be punishable by a year in prison or a 15,000-euro ($19,000) fine, the government said, calling it "a new form of enslavement that the republic cannot accept on its soil."

The measure would take effect six months after passage, giving authorities time to try to persuade women who veil themselves voluntarily to stop.

The French Council of State has warned that the ban could be incompatible with international human rights law and the country's own constitution. The council advises on laws, but the government is not required to follow its recommendations.

Amnesty International urged French lawmakers in May not to approve the ban.

"A complete ban on the covering of the face would violate the rights to freedom of expression and religion of those women who wear the burqa or the niqab in public as an expression of their identity or beliefs," said John Dalhuisen, Amnesty International's expert on discrimination in Europe.

Belgium's lower house of parliament passed a similar ban in April.

If that bill is approved by the upper house and signed into law, it will be the first national ban in Europe on the burqa, a full-body cover that includes a mesh over the face, and the niqab, a full-face veil that leaves an opening only for the eyes.

The hijab, which tightly covers the hair and neck but not the face, and the chador, which covers the body but not the face, apparently would not be banned by either law.

The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life estimates that France has about 3.5 million Muslims, or about 6 percent of the population.

France does not keep its own statistics on religious affiliation of the population, in keeping with its laws requiring the state to be strictly secular.

Belgium considers ban on Islamic face coverings

Belgium could become the first country in Europe to ban face coverings

(CNN) -- The latest round in the battle of the burqa kicks off Thursday in Belgium, which could become the first country in Europe to ban face coverings worn by observant Muslim women.

Lawmakers are considering a ban in all public places on niqabs, veils that cover the face, as well as burqas, which cover the face and everything else from head to toe.

They're motivated both by security and morality, they say.

"We think all people in public places must show their face," says Denis Ducarme. And, he says, "We must defend our values in the question of the freedom and the dignity of the woman."

Ducarme denies that Islam requires women to wear burqas or niqabs.

"The majority of Muslims in Belgium and Europe don't accept the burqa, don't accept the niqab. It's only 10 percent who are radical," he says, blaming trends from Pakistan and Afghanistan for encouraging facial covering.

And he rejects the suggestion that the proposed ban smacks of intolerance, saying it is the burqa -- and the Islamist movement -- that are truly intolerant and dangerous.

He estimates that 300 to 400 women in the country wear the niqab or the burqa.

Belgium is home to about 281,000 Muslims, the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life estimates. That would make the country about 3 percent Muslim.

Abdullah Bastin, a Muslim political leader in Belgium, warns that the legislation could have an effect exactly opposite from what it intends. Today only a few women wear the burqa, he says, but if the law is enacted, thousands will wear it as an angry reaction.

He dismisses the idea that the law is designed to protect women's rights. This isn't protecting their dignity, it's colonialism, he argues.

One town in Belgium banned the burqa six years ago.

Jan Creemers, the mayor of the tiny picture-postcard city of Maaseik, says it was no problem to enforce the ban: "I had always the support of the Moroccan community here in Maaseik."

Some fines were handed out, he says. None were paid, but no one wears a veil in Maaseik today, he says.

The bill before the Chamber of Deputies on Thursday would impose a fine of 15-25 euros ($20-33) or imprisonment of one to seven days.

Amnesty International warned Wednesday that the bill would break international law.

"A general ban on the wearing of full face veils would violate the rights to freedom of expression and religion of those women who choose to express their identity or beliefs in this way," said Claudio Cordone, Amnesty International's interim secretary general.

"Women must not be compelled to wear a headscarf or veil, either by the state or by individuals; and it is wrong for them to be prohibited by law from wearing it," Cordone said in a written statement.

If the Chamber of Deputies approves the law, it will go to the upper house of the legislature for a vote.

Belgium is not the only country considering banning the burqa. France said Tuesday that it would shortly be putting a similar draft law before Parliament.

"Face-covering veils must be totally forbidden in the whole public space because women's dignity is not divisible," said Luc Chatel, a spokesman for the French government. "The second principle, of course, everything must be done so that no one feels stigmatized because of one's faith and religion. The president of the republic and the prime minister have asked the members of government to work hard on this point."

He said the government will seek to avoid a partisan approach to the legislation, and will consult with all political groups "and of course, moral and religious authorities."

A panel of French lawmakers recommended a ban in January.

France denied citizenship to a man a week later because he made his wife wear a veil, and denied a woman citizenship in 2008 because she wore a burqa. The country's constitution fiercely guards the secularity of the state.

Switzerland passed a ban on building minarets, the tall towers next to mosques, in a nationwide referendum in November.

At the moment, Belgium has only "moderate" government restrictions on religion, a major Pew Forum study found last year. But Europe as a region is more restrictive than the Americas or sub-Saharan Africa, according to the study.