Author: AFP
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: December 11, 2009
URL: http://www.dailypioneer.com/221829/No-French-citizenship-for-burqa-Muslims-says-Minister.html
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 naqab 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.