France denies woman nationality over her burqa
Wednesday July 23 2008
As Integration Minister Conor Lenihan seeks public opinion on the question of the Islamic 'hijab', France has gone one step further.
A woman has been denied French nationality because her wearing of the burqa -- a garment which covers all bar a woman's eyes -- is deemed incompatible with French values.
A court case, involving a Moroccan woman married to a French citizen, has posed the question about how the French can maintain the right balance between public expressions of religious faith and national values.
France has a population of some six million Muslims -- but its deeply secular values, which separate the State from faith, are legally enshrined in its constitution.
The separation of church from state has been proudly preserved in France's constitution for centuries.
In 2004, the Muslim headscarf was banned in state schools and other public buildings.
Authorities have gone a step further with a court ruling that the wearing of the burqa is "incompatible" with French nationality. The young woman, Faiza M, married in Morocco and came to live near Paris.
In 2005, her application for nationality was rejected for "lack of assimilation".
Rejected
The woman appealed to the Conseil d'Etat. They rejected her appeal on the grounds that she "adopted a radical practice of her religion, incompatible with the essential values of the French community, and particularly with the principle of sexual equality".
This marks the first time that the court refused nationality on the grounds of religious expression. It is understood the couple in question practise Salafism -- a radical form of Islam.
The woman's husband requested that she wear a burqa and she lives "in total submission to the men in her family" at her Paris home.
The move was welcomed by cities minister Fadela Amara, who is of Algerian descent. She likened the burqa to a prison.
"It is not a religious sign but the visible sign of a totalitarian political project preaching sexual inequality," she said.
Mohammed Moussaoui, head of the French Council for the Muslim Faith, called the burqa "neither an obligation nor even a recommendation" of Islam.
Two weeks ago, it emerged that Integration Minister Conor Lenihan was seeking the opinion of Irish school principals on the question of the Islamic hijab.
Some have praised the minister for the democratic method he is employing. Others have slammed it as a PR exercise and have said the decision should be made by the schools.
- Jane Last
