French Muslima fined for driving while veiled - husband accused of polygamy

[Al-khiyal]

French Muslim fined for driving while veiled

April 23, 2010 -- The lawyer for a French Muslim woman fined for driving while wearing a full-face veil has accused police of abusing her human rights, as the government pushes to ban the garment. Police stopped the 31-one-year-old in the western city of Nantes and fined her 22 euros ($31.80) on the grounds that her niqab - an Islamic veil with a slit for the eyes - restricted her view so she could not drive safely.

"This fine is not justified on road safety grounds and constitutes a breach of human and women's rights," said the woman's lawyer, Jean-Michel Pollono. He insists his client, who has not been named, could "move freely" and "her field of vision was in no way obstructed." He added that "the field of vision of a motorcycle rider wearing a helmet is more restricted."

President Nicolas Sarkozy's government has said it will push ahead with a ban on wearing a full-face veil in public, despite a warning from state judicial experts that such a law could be unconstitutional. There is strong support in parliament for such a ban and the government is determined to press on with a law, which it says would affect only around 2,000 Muslim French women who currently cover their faces.

Mr Pollono says he had complained formally to the state prosecutor. "The ball is clearly in the authorities' court," he said. "Currently no law forbids the wearing of the niqab." Local authorities say the officer involved legally had discretion to decide whether there was a danger. He "was doing his job. He judged that in the circumstances there was a risk to security," a police source said.

[Al-khiyal]

Un policier verbalise une conductrice voilée

Vendredi 23 Avril 2010 -- Nul besoin d'attendre le projet de loi sur l'interdiction du voile intégral, qui devrait être examiné en urgence à l'Assemblée nationale. Les policiers disposent déjà d'une arme pour sanctionner les femmes portant le niqab : le code de la route. Le 2 avril, une Française de 31 ans a reçu une amende de 22 euros pour «circulation dans des conditions non aisées», lors d'un contrôle routier à Nantes. Selon le procès-verbal, le fonctionnaire de police a ainsi estimé que le champ de vision de la jeune femme était réduit par le port du niqab, ce voile intégral qui ne laisse voir que les yeux. Une référence à l'article 412-6 du Code de la route, qui stipule que «tout conducteur doit se tenir constamment en état et en position d'exécuter commodément et sans délai toutes les manœuvres qui lui incombent». Le champ de vision, notamment, ne doit pas être réduit «par le nombre ou la position des passagers, par les objets transportés ou par l'apposition d'objets non transparents sur les vitres». Mentionné par le policier, cet article du Code de la route ne fait pourtant jamais explicitement référence au port du voile intégral. «C'est laissé à la libre appréciation de l'agent verbalisateur», a défendu la Direction départementale de la sécurité publique (DDSP). «Cet agent a fait son travail. Il a estimé que dans ces circonstances, il y avait un risque pour la sécurité», a-t-on ajouté.

«Il faudrait interdire au GIGN de conduire avec des cagoules»

La jeune femme, qui avait consenti à se dévoiler devant les policiers pour que son identité soit vérifiée lors du contrôle routier, s'estime au contraire victime de «discrimination pure et simple». Jugeant avoir été verbalisée «à cause de [sa] tenue vestimentaire», elle explique dans un reportage de France 3 n'avoir «commis aucune infraction», car son champ de vision n'était «pas réduit». «L'article sur lequel la contravention a été infligée est pour moi un article fourre-tout, car il s'agit pour le conducteur de conduire libre de ses gestes», a précisé l'avocat de la jeune Nantaise, Me Jean-Michel Pollono. «Nous sommes quand même dans le pays des droits de l'Homme ! Le port du voile sur la voie publique n'est pas prohibé, que je sache? Si ne voir que les yeux constitue une infraction, alors il faudrait interdire au GIGN de conduire avec des cagoules», a-t-il raillé. «Si le voile avait posé un quelconque danger au volant ces dernières décennies on n'aurait pas vu de religieuses conduire et il n'y aurait pas eu Les gendarmes à Saint-Tropez», a-t-il encore plaisanté. Un recommandé, contestant la contravention, a été envoyé au ministère public jeudi. «Le tribunal de proximité tranchera», a-t-on indiqué à la DDSP. La jeune femme, qui n'est «pas une femme soumise, mais une intellectuelle née en Loire-Atlantique et d'origine métropolitaine», devait donner une conférence de presse dans une boucherie halal de Nantes vendredi après-midi, selon son avocat. D'après une source policière, elle serait «la femme d'un islamiste connu» à Nantes.

[Al-khiyal]

[Al-khiyal]

French driving veil row escalates

April 25, 2010 -- A political row over the case of a French woman fined for driving in an Islamic veil gathered pace Sunday as a leading Muslim scholar and a French far-right leader both weighed in. With the government planning to ban the full Islamic veil in public, the fining of the French woman in Nantes took a political turn when a minister threatened to punish her Muslim husband for offences including polygamy. The woman has challenged the fine as a breach of her human rights.

Tariq Ramadan, a professor of Islamic studies at Oxford University, said that the move by French Interior Minister Brice Hortefeux to punish the woman's husband "betrays the values of France". "To be polygamous is illegal... that is the law that says that. But since when has a minister been able to say that they will take away his nationality?" Ramadan told around 1,000 people at a conference the Arrhama mosque in Nantes.

Hortefeux had written to Immigration Minister Eric Besson asking him to look into allegations the woman's husband may belong to a radical group and may be a polygamist with four wives and 12 children and guilty of welfare fraud. He said the man could be stripped of his French nationality if they proved true.

Swiss-born Ramadan, who had a Bush-era visa ban lifted by the United States earlier this year, hailed the Muslim community of Nantes for refusing to react to "provocation" over the issue. Mourad Sandi, an official at the Arrhama mosque, said the affair had been given too much attention in the media. "I am not sure the subject merits our discussing it, we do not want to add fuel to the fire," he said. But the collective of Nantes mosques said in a statement that they were "worried by this systematic stigmatisation which goes against the values of the Republic". The association "considers that the stopping of a driver is a judicial procedure and is angry at how such an event has been turned into being all about Islam."

Meanwhile French far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen told local media it was "scandalous" that the man's alleged wives were receiving family benefits and said the potential stripping of the man's French citizenship was "normal". But on the veil ban, Le Pen said the issue was "covering up more serious problems" and there was "no need for a law".

President Nicolas Sarkozy's government said last week it would push ahead with a ban on wearing a full-face veil in public, despite a warning from state legal experts that such a law could be unconstitutional. In this context, the Nantes incident gained political momentum and dominated the news this weekend. Besson, the immigration minister, said Sunday that the procedure to strip the man's French nationality could not start unless he was convicted of illegal activity, adding that it would "probably" be difficult to prove polygamy. "There will have to be an inquiry first of all, then possibly a decision by the courts, and only then possibly the forfeiture (of his citizenship)," Besson said in a televised debate.

Hortefeux's move has been praised by members of the right-wing governing UMP party and criticised by opposition figures such as Communist Party leader Marie-George Buffet, who called it a "bad-taste political operation". The state prosecutor in Nantes, Xavier Ronsin, told AFP on Sunday that so far no charge had been lodged against the husband but an investigation could be launched if there were grounds to suspect fraud. Hortefeux wrote that the husband was born in Algeria and acquired French nationality by marrying the woman in 1999. Polygamy is a jailable offence in France, but only civil marriages conducted by a state official count - not religious marriage ceremonies. It was not clear on Sunday whether the veiled woman's husband was joined to his other alleged wives by civil marriage or by religious rites such as Muslim weddings.

[Al-khiyal]

[Al-khiyal]

Mosques slam politicisation of ‘burqa driver’ incident

April 26, 2010 -- A grouping of mosques in the western French city of Nantes issued a statement condemning the political controversy and media hype surrounding a fine levyed on a local Muslim woman earlier this month for wearing a full Islamic veil while driving. “The Association of Nantes Mosques considers that the decision to detain and fine a woman for driving in a full Islamic veil is a judicial procedure. It should in no way be turned into a political affair or a debate on Islam,” the statement said. “Once again, Muslims and Islam are the victims of a wave of media frenzy surrounding a minor, insignificant incident which does not represent the beliefs or lifestyle of the vast majority of Muslims living in France," the statement went on to say, adding: "We are concerned about this systematic stigmatisation, which goes against the fundamental values of the Republic."

Safety risk

The 31-year-old Algerian-born French woman was fined €22 for driving in a niqab, a black veil that covers the face but not the eyes. Police said the veil posed a “safety risk” when worn while driving. The incident reached ministerial levels on Saturday, when French Interior Minister Brice Hortefeux asked Immigration Minister Eric Besson to look into whether the woman’s husband could be stripped of his French nationality after an investigation revealed that he was a polygamist who was simultaneously married to four women. The man also has 12 children. "Each of these women benefits from single-parent benefits and ... each one wears the full veil," Hortefeux said, in a letter seen by the Reuters news agency. Hortefeux also asked authorities to look into bringing fraud charges against the family for taking advantage of French social services.

The unnamed woman has contested the fine, arguing that neither her vision nor her movements are impaired by wearing the niqab. The controversy comes just two days after French President Nicolas Sarkozy urged parliament to pass a ban on wearing the full Islamic veil in all public places, eschewing more moderate proposals that focused on imposing limits only within state institutions such as schools and town halls.

[Al-khiyal]

Minister may seek legal changes to pursue alleged polygamist

April 26, 2010 -- French law could potentially be revised to strip polygamists of their acquired citizenship, Immigration Minister Eric Besson told French radio on Monday amid an escalating controversy over Islam, immigration and women's rights that has captured national headlines. The incident began on Thursday when a Muslim woman told the media that French police had given her a traffic fine for wearing a niqab, a Muslim face veil that leaves only the eyes exposed, while she was driving in the north-western city of Nantes in early April. Police issued a €22 ($29) fine, saying her clothing impaired her vision and therefore posed a safety risk.

The immigration minister's comments on Monday followed a request by Interior Minister Brice Hortefeux to look into whether the woman’s husband, Lies Hebbadj, could be stripped of his French nationality. Hortefeux said he had obtained information suggesting Hebbadj was a polygamist who lived with four women, all of whom received single-parent welfare benefits. Those allegations are yet to be proven, but on Monday Hebbadj defended himself at a press conference in Nantes, saying, "As far I know, mistresses are not banned by France or Islam. Maybe by Christianity, but not in France." Hebbadj is said to have acquired French nationality through marriage in 1999.

The law and the veil

According to French civil law, neither polygamy nor welfare fraud can justify revoking a person’s nationality. However, according to Maitre Brah Rached, a lawyer and expert in rights of foreigners in France, “a person’s nationality may be revoked if it is proven that he or she lied about his or her marital status when granted citizenship.” If Hebbadj was already married in Algeria before wedding a Frenchwoman, his citizenship may be considered void, the lawyer explains.

In an interview with RTL radio station, Besson admitted revoking a preson's French nationality was a controversial legal matter. But the immigration minister said he was ready to challenge the current law, insisting that “If French people say one cannot cheat in these areas… then under the arbitration of the president and the prime minister, we could consider changing the legislation.” The controversy comes just a week after Sarkozy backed a strict public ban of the full Muslim veil, eschewing more moderate proposals that focused on limits in state institutions such as schools and town halls.