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French government to introduce bill to ban the burqa

21 April 2010 18:07 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA. The French government will present parliament with a bill to ban the all-body Islamic veil, or burqa, despite warnings that it would likely be struck down on constitutional grounds, a government spokesman said Wednesday, APA reports quoting monstersandcritics.com web-page.
â€™(The burqa) is an attack on the dignity of women and the values of the republic,â€™ Luc Chatel quoted President Nicolas Sarkozy as saying.
Chatel said the law would ban the wearing of the burqa in all public areas. It is to be introduced in May and examined by parliament in July.
The decision to present the bill was taken early Wednesday during a meeting between Sarkozy, Prime Minister Francois Fillon and senior members of the ruling UMP party.
But if the bill becomes law, it will have to clear some formidable legal hurdles.
In March, the countryâ€™s highest administrative court, the Council of State, said there was probably no legal foundation for a total ban of the burqa.
The council - a government body that also provides the executive branch with legal advice - said that such a ban â€™could find no indisputable basis in law.â€™
According to most estimates, the burqa is worn in France by only 2,000 women, a large number of whom are French converts to Islam.