[ “The burqa will not be welcome in our French republic,” Sarkozy said during his address on Monday before a joint session of the two houses of Parliament in Versailles.]
Paris: In June 2009, French president Nicolas Sarkozy had said that women wearing the burqa would not be accepted on French territory.(Getty Images)
Muslim women who wear the full Islamic veil in France will face a possible 750-euro ($1,000) fine, according to a draft bill unveiled Thursday by the leader of the parliamentary majority, newswire AFP said in a report.
According to AFP, Jean-Francois Cope, who heads the governing UMP party in the National Assembly, told Le Figaro newspaper’s weekly magazine that men who force their wives to wear the burqa or niqab could face an even heavier fine.“The law will address an issue of security,” Cope said in an interview with the magazine.
“The proposed measure would prohibit the covering of the face in public places and on the streets, with the exception of special cultural events or carnivals.”
He said that the draft legislation will be presented in the next two weeks and should come up for debate in parliament after the March regional elections, AFP reported.
In June 2009, French President Nicolas Sarkozy had said that women wearing the burqa would not be accepted on French territory.
“The problem of the burqa is not a religious problem, it is a problem of the dignity of women. It is a symbol of subservience, of submission,” he said in a speech which he himself called “an important moment”.
“The burqa will not be welcome in our French republic,” Sarkozy said during his address on Monday before a joint session of the two houses of Parliament in Versailles.
According to AFP, France has had a long-running debate on how far it is willing to go to accommodate Islam without undermining the tradition of separating church and state, enshrined in a flagship 1905 law.
In 2004, it passed a law banning headscarves or any other “conspicuous” religious symbols in state schools to defend secularism, it added.
Posted by: Sirajudeen, 050-996-2949