Paris: Muslim men who force their wives
to wear the full Islamic veil should not be granted French
citizenship, Justice Minister Michele Alliot-Marie said on Thursday.
Wading into the debate over whether to ban the burqa,
Alliot-Marie said the government would await the
recommendations of a parliamentary panel considering possible
legislation to bar Muslim women from wearing the full veil.
But the minister went on to say that "there are a
certain number of basics on which we must stand firm."
"For instance, someone who would be seeking French
citizenship and whose wife wears the full veil is someone who
would not appear to be sharing the values of our country," she
told LCI television.
"Therefore in a case like that one, we would reject
his request," she said.
The justice minister said the wearing of the niqab or
burqa was a "problem that affects our ability to live
together, the values of the republic and in particular human
dignity."
A French court last year denied citizenship to a
veiled Moroccan woman on the grounds that her "radical"
practice of Islam was incompatible with French values.
President Nicolas Sarkozy has proclaimed the burqa
"not welcome" in secular France but he has not waded into the
debate on whether the full veil should be banned.
PTI
First Published: Thursday, December 10, 2009, 21:38