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A Belgian parliamentary committee has voted to ban face-covering Islamic veils from being worn in public. The home affairs committee voted unanimously to endorse the move, which must be approved by parliament for it to become law. Such a vote could be held within weeks, correspondents say, meaning that Belgium could become the first European country to implement a ban. France is also considering restricting face-covering veils. There are several types of headscarves and veils for Muslim women - those that cover the face being the niqab and the burka. 'Dangerous precedent' The BBC's Dominic Hughes reports from Brussels that...

MONTREAL -- In recent years, the few fully veiled Muslim women who had dealings with Quebec's health-insurance board could choose to be served by a woman to avoid exposing their faces to a man outside their family. But in the latest example of the province's growing resistance to the accommodation of minority religious practices, the insurance board on Tuesday announced the end of the policy after the provincial human rights commission said it has no duty to acquiesce. "From now on, for a woman who is veiled with a niqab or a burka and comes to our office asking to...

More than half of voters in four other major European states back a push by France's Nicolas Sarkozy to ban women from wearing the burka, according to an opinion poll for the Financial Times. As Mr Sarkozy presses ahead with plans to ban the wearing of the burka in public places, the FT latest Harris poll shows the move is not just strongly supported in France, but wins enthusiastic backing in the UK, Italy, Spain and Germany. The poll shows 70 per cent of respondents in France said they supported plans to forbid the wearing of the garment which covers...

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has said that burqa-clad women cannot be issued voter identity cards, rejecting the argument that religion prohibits them from lifting their veils. Counsel for petitioner M Ajam Khan had contended that asking `purdah-nashin' women to lift their veil for being photographed would amount to sacrilege as their photographs would be seen by many men working as polling agents and electoral officials. "It will hurt their religious sentiments and the Election Commission must not insist on `purdah-nashin' women to be photographed for inclusion of their name in the electoral rolls," said the counsel arguing before a...

MPs will vote on the proposal this month after a long impassioned debate over the merits of outlawing the burka and niqab. Jean-François Copé, parliamentary leader of President Nicolas Sarkozy's UMP group, said the 750 euro fine would apply to anyone whose face is "fully covered in public". Wearing either would be tolerated only in exceptional circumstances, such as "cultural events or carnivals," he added. The bill proposes introducing an even heavier penalty for anyone who forces a woman to wear the full veil, Mr Copé said in an interview with the Le Figaro magazine. The burka is a full-body...

The other day, George Jonas passed on to his readers a characteristically shrewd observation gleaned from the late poet George Faludy: “No one likes to think of himself as a coward,” wrote Jonas. “People prefer to think they end up yielding to what the terrorists demand, not because it’s safer or more convenient, but because it’s the right thing . . . Successful terrorism persuades the terrorized that if they do terror’s bidding, it’s not because they’re terrified but because they’re socially concerned.” This is true. Resisting terror is exhausting. It’s easier to appease it, but, for the sake of your self-esteem, you have...

Women forbidden by law from feeling sunlight—hey, that’s a positive message for young girls The other day, George Jonas passed on to his readers a characteristically shrewd observation gleaned from the late poet George Faludy: “No one likes to think of himself as a coward,” wrote Jonas. “People prefer to think they end up yielding to what the terrorists demand, not because it’s safer or more convenient, but because it’s the right thing . . . Successful terrorism persuades the terrorized that if they do terror’s bidding, it’s not because they’re terrified but because they’re socially concerned.”

A burka-wearing student has been banned from enrolling at a college after staff claimed the Muslim garment was a barrier to ‘safety and communication’. Shawana Bilqes, 18, was forced to abandon her learning plans after she refused to remove the head-to-toe gown which reveals only her eyes. She had been asked to show her face as a check to avoid identity fraud in case she was posing as someone else. But when she explained she could not due to her religious belief she was forced off her Access course for an HE Diploma at Burnley College, Lancashire. Today Miss Bilqes...

A SPANISH judge has expelled a Muslim woman wearing a burka from his court for refusing to show her face when testifying in the trial of a group of Islamic extremists. "Seeing your face, I can see if you are lying or not, if you are surprised by a question or not," Judge Javier Gomez Bermudez told the woman, the sister of an Islamic radical killed in a suicide bombing in Iraq in 2005. The woman said that her religion forbade her from appearing in public without her burka... But after speaking to the judge later in his chambers, a...

As I always do around this time of year, I pushed aside the Arab-Israeli conflict for a moment to contemplate the more serious conflict between secular Muslims and Christian Arabs and the growing religious extremism in the Middle East. There are 22 Arab countries, yet only two had the courage (or pride in their women) to field entrants in this year's Miss Universe Pageant, which was held in the Bahamas, where string bikinis replace car bombs and women are truly free. The only two Arab countries that entered contestants, again, were Egypt and Lebanon. Now I know Egypt and its...

The Conservative Party Integration Spokesman Naser Khader is calling for a ban on the burka or niqab in the public space. The junior minority coalition Conservative Party wants to introduce a ban on Muslim burka or niqab dress codes which require women to completely cover their faces in the public space, according to Jyllands-Posten. “We don’t want to see burkas in Denmark. We simply can’t accept that some of our citizens walk around with their faces covered,” says MP Naser Khader, a Syrian-Palestinian of extraction and the Conservative Party’s recently-appointed integration spokesman. At home Khader says the burka is un-Danish...

A POLICE force in Yorkshire was yesterday accused of wasting time and public money after sending three officers out to spend a day dressed as Muslim women. Sgt Deb Leonard, Sgt Deb Pickering and Pc Helen Turner dressed in traditional Islamic costumes including burka, jilbab, hijab and niqab. They were accompanied by four Muslim women in Sheffield as part of a scheme called In Your Shoes Day, designed to help South Yorkshire Police learn about the Muslim faith. In return, the Muslim women had a tour of the police custody suite and closed circuit TV offices and were shown the...

Here is a video report on the efforts of French President Nicolas Sarkozy to ban the wearing of the Muslim "Burka" by women. He says it is not a religious symbol, but a sign of enslavement, and not welcome in France. The controversy is a result of growing tensions in France due to the huge Muslim population there - over 5 million. Muslims from the Middle East and North Africa have migrated to France in recent years. . . . . . (Watch Video)

FRENCH officials were on alert last night after a group linked to al-Qaeda threatened to retaliate over criticism of the burka. The Algeria-based group issued a statement on Islamic websites vowing to “seek vengeance”. It followed comments by French President Nicolas Sarkozy last week in which he said the veils would not be welcome in France. Muslim robes may even be banned in public there. A Foreign Ministry spokesman said last night: “French authorities reaffirm their determination to fight terrorism.”

PARIS (AP) — A top Muslim group in Britain lashed out at Nicolas Sarkozy as "patronizing and offensive" on Tuesday, after the French president said body- and face-covering Islamic garments such as the burqa turn women into prisoners. In Paris, parliament formally created a commission Tuesday to study the wearing of body-cloaking Muslim robes in France, a day after Sarkozy told lawmakers that the burqa would not be welcome in the country. A top official with the Muslim Council of Britain, an umbrella organization for British Muslim groups, accused Sarkozy of "divisive politics," and said his comments could fan an...

Stop Islamist oppression of women.

Shopping in Harrods last week, I came across a group of women wearing black burkhas, browsing the latest designs in the fashion department. The irony of the situation was almost laughable. Here was a group of affluent women window shopping for designs that they would never once be able to wear in public. Yet it's a sight that's becoming more and more commonplace. In hardline Muslim communities right across Britain, the burkha and hijab - the Muslim headscarf - are becoming the norm. In the predominantly Muslim enclaves of Derby near my childhood home, you now see women hidden behind...

President Sarkozy's proposed ban may be pure politicking, but it does expose a fundamental cross-Channel difference"The burka is not a religious problem, it's a question of liberty and women's dignity. It's not a religious symbol, but a sign of subservience and debasement. I want to say solemnly, the burka is not welcome in France. In our country, we can't accept women prisoners behind a screen, cut off from all social life, deprived of all identity. That is not our idea of freedom.” So spoke Nicolas Sarkozy in Versailles during his first state of the nation address to France's two chambers,...

President Nicolas Sarkozy lashed out Monday at the practice of wearing the Muslim burqa, insisting the full-body religious gown is a sign of the "debasement" of women and that it won't be welcome in France. The French leader expressed support for a recent call by dozens of legislators to create a parliamentary commission to study a small but growing trend of wearing the full-body garment in France In the first presidential address in 136 years to a joint session of France's two houses of parliament, Sarkozy laid out his support for a ban even before the panel has been approved—braving...

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has spoken out strongly against the wearing of the burka by Muslim women in France. In a major policy speech, he said the burka - a garment covering women from head to toe - reduced them to servitude and undermined their dignity.