French ban on face covering

[4] Arguments supporting this proposal include that face coverings prevent the clear identification of a person (which may be a security risk, or a social hindrance within a society which relies on facial recognition and expression in communication), that the alleged forcing of women to cover their faces is sexist, and that Muslims who continue this practice should be forced to assimilate into traditional French social norms.

[9][10] The bill also penalises, with a fine of €30,000 and one year in prison, anyone who forces (by violence, threats, or abuse of power) another to wear face coverings; these penalties may be doubled if the victim is under the age of 18.

[9][11] As a result of the law, the only exceptions to a woman wearing a face-covering veil in public will be if she is travelling in a private car or worshiping in a religious place.

[15] Initial instances of the French government's actions towards a full face covering ban can be traced back to the "Scarf Affair" of 1989.

[16] The French Parliament began an initial inquiry on the issue shortly after President Nicolas Sarkozy stated in June 2009 that religious face veils were "not welcome" within France.

[11][24] Fadela Amara, who had recently served as a junior minister in the French government and is a Muslim, had previously declared: "The veil is the visible symbol of the subjugation of women, and therefore has no place in the mixed, secular spaces of France's state school system.

Anastasia Comobiso writes regarding the topic, "The State abolishes the particular rights granted to institutions or religious congregations, and confines religion itself to personal and private subjectivity".

[26] Muslim face coverings, according to the French government, hinder universal women's rights and threaten the safety of the public.

The sole vote against the ban in the National Assembly was cast by Daniel Garrigue, who warned that "to fight an extremist behavior, we risk slipping toward a totalitarian society.

[8] The bill prohibits the wearing of face coverings in public places and also applies to foreign tourists visiting France.

[9][10] The bill also penalises, with a fine of €30,000 and one year in prison, anyone who forces (by violence, threats or by abuse of power) another to wear face coverings; these penalties may be doubled if the victim is under the age of 18.

[citation needed] Dalil Boubakeur, the grand mufti of the Paris Mosque, the largest and most influential in France, testified to parliament during the bill's preparation.

[30] Nasharudin Mat Isa, leader of the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party, said that the ban had made Muslims around the world angry but stated that he hoped that it would not provoke any terrorist incidents.

[31] Abdel Muti al-Bayyumi, a member of the council of clerics at Al-Azhar Mosque in Cairo, Egypt, applauded the ban and stated that the niqāb has no basis in Sharia.

[33] Hamza Yusuf criticized the French government for the ban, writing: While I am personally opposed to the face veil, it is a legitimate, if minority opinion, in the Islamic legal tradition for a woman to wear one.

While the French Prime Minister sees no problem with exposing in public places a woman's glorious nakedness, he is oddly and quite rabidly disturbed by allowing others to cover it up.

Hebah Ahmed, a female Muslim activist, stated when asked about the topic, "I think that it's a bad idea because I think it's yet another example of men telling women how to dress, how to live their life.

[37] In October 2010, Osama bin Laden accused France of preventing "free women from wearing the burqa" in a released recording.

The ban against the face covering veil is a frequent theme in publications linked to Salafi jihadist organisations such as Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.

On 22 September 2011, Hind Ahmas and Najate Nait Ali became the first women to be fined under the burqa ban after having been arrested in May for attempting to deliver an almond cake to the mayor of Meaux (a supporter of the ban) whilst wearing niqabs (the French word for fine, amende, is similar in sound to almond.)

[42] The committee came to the determination in 2018 that the case had been incorrectly dismissed after review by a single judge on the grounds that, "the conditions of admissibility laid down in articles 34 and 35 of the Convention [had] not been met."

[46] Interior Minister Claude Guéant pointed out that notwithstanding any implementation difficulties "the role of the police and gendarmerie are to ensure that the law is respected.

The French article states that a video recording of the event circulated social media showing the woman being beaten by police.

The committee was responding to two complaints about women being prosecuted for wearing clothing that violated the French ban on face coverings.

Jean-Michel Blanquer came out in staunch opposition to a pamphlet produced by a French parents association for including the photo of a mother wearing a headscarf.

[59] Blanquer has also expressed that the heads of schools should discourage the inclusion of mothers who choose to wear the headscarf, invoking the argument of France's strong secularism.

[60] According to a paper by Friedman and Merle published in Feminist Media Studies, the French news coverage was overall unifying in presenting a narrative of France's identity as a secular nation that respects religious freedom but controls its public expression.