Thread: France refuses a citizenship over full Islamic veil

Page last updated at 04:38 GMT, Wednesday, 3 February 2010


France refuses a citizenship over full Islamic veil

The full-face covering has inflamed passions in France

The French government has refused to grant citizenship to a foreign national on the grounds that he forced his wife to wear the full Islamic veil.

The man, whose current nationality was not given, needed citizenship to settle in the country with his French wife.

But Immigration Minister Eric Besson said this was being refused because he was depriving his wife of the liberty to come and go with her face uncovered.

Last week, a parliamentary committee proposed a partial ban on full veils.

It also recommended that anyone showing visible signs of "radical religious practice" be refused residence permits and citizenship.

'Integration'

In a statement, Mr Besson said he had signed a decree on Tuesday rejecting a man's citizenship application after it emerged that he had ordered his wife to cover herself with a head-to-toe veil.



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In graphics

"It became apparent during the regulation investigation and the prior interview that this person was compelling his wife to wear the all-covering veil, depriving her of the freedom to come and go with her face uncovered, and rejected the principles of secularism and equality between men and women," he said.

Later, the minister stressed that French law required anyone seeking naturalisation to demonstrate their desire for integration.

Mr Besson's decree has now been sent to Prime Minister Francois Fillon for approval.

The interior ministry says only 1,900 women wear full veils in France, home to Europe's biggest Muslim minority.

In 2008, a French court denied citizenship to a Moroccan woman on the grounds that her "radical" practice of Islam was incompatible with French values.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8494860.stm

Originally Posted by FedUpinFarmersBranch

Later, the minister stressed that French law required anyone seeking naturalisation to demonstrate their desire for integration.

Mr Besson's decree has now been sent to Prime Minister Francois Fillon for approval.

The interior ministry says only 1,900 women wear full veils in France, home to Europe's biggest Muslim minority.

In 2008, a French court denied citizenship to a Moroccan woman on the grounds that her "radical" practice of Islam was incompatible with French values.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8494860.stm

The French get it. That's really good for them.

Here the American people get it, but the elected government just doesn't 'get it.' Bad for us.

GO FRANCE, GO!!

Originally Posted by Rockfish

GO FRANCE, GO!!

I agree, hopefully we will get a government soon that feels the same way.

Veiled wife costs man French citizenship
February 3, 2010 6:54 p.m. EST

France is home to about 3.5 million Muslims -- or 6 percent of the population.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Immigration Minister says man denied wife liberty of coming going with face uncovered
France is scheduled to vote on whether to ban full veils
France denied a Moroccan woman's naturalization request in 2008 on the because she wore a burqa

Paris, France (CNN) -- France has denied citizenship to a man because he allegedly forced his wife to wear a full Islamic veil, the French immigration minister said in a statement Wednesday.

The man was applying for citizenship in order to join his French wife in France, Immigration Minister Eric Besson said. The man was refused citizenship because he was depriving his wife of the liberty to come and go with her face uncovered, Besson said.

The decision, made Tuesday, came exactly a week after a French parliamentary commission recommended a partial ban on any veils that cover the face -- including the burqa, the full-body covering worn by some Muslim women.

The ban -- which has not yet come up for a vote -- would apply in public places like hospitals and schools, and on public transport, the commission announced.

Foreigners may become French citizens if they marry French nationals and meet certain criteria, including integrating well in French society and having "good morality," Besson said. It is on the criteria of morality that the man's citizenship request was denied, Besson said.

"This individual imposes the full veil upon his wife, does not allow her the freedom to go and come as she pleases, and bans her from going out with her face unveiled, and rejects the principles of secularism and equality between man and woman," Besson said he told President Nicolas Sarkozy.

France's top court denied a Moroccan woman's naturalization request in 2008 on the grounds that she wore a burqa.

Sarkozy controversially told lawmakers six months ago that the traditional Muslim burqa was "not welcome" in France. He said the issue is one of a woman's freedom and dignity, and did not have to do with religion.

France has relatively tight controls on religion, according to the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life. It has among the most severe government restrictions on religion in Western Europe, as well as some of the highest levels of social tension involving religion, Pew senior researcher Brian Grim told CNN.

More than half of French people support a full ban veils, according to a recent opinion poll. The Ipsos poll for Le Point magazine found 57 percent of French people said it should be illegal to appear in public wearing clothes that cover the face.

That's despite government estimates that fewer than 2,000 women in the country actually wear the full Islamic veil.

France has about 3.5 million Muslims, representing about 6 percent of the population, according to Pew Forum research. The country does not collect its own statistics on religion in accordance with laws enshrining France's status as a secular state.

France already has a law against Muslim girls wearing headscarves in state schools. It sparked widespread Muslim protests when the French Parliament passed the law in 2004, even though the law also bans other conspicuous religious symbols including Sikh turbans, large Christian crucifixes and Jewish skull caps.

CNN's Jessica Hartogs in London, England, contributed to this report.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/europe/02 ... tml?hpt=T2