Burqa ban 'inappropriate': German interior minister

[Al-khiyal]

Top German Liberal in EU parliament wants Europe-wide burqa ban

May 3, 2010 -- First the Belgian lower chamber votes to ban the burqa; soon France intends to follow suit; now the leading German Liberal in the European Parliament and a vice-president of the assembly has called for a Europe-wide ban on the face-concealing garment. Silvana Koch-Mehrin, the 40-year-old head of the Free Democrats in Strasbourg, in an opinion piece at the weekend for German tabloid Bild am Sonntag said: "I would like to see the wearing of all forms of the burqa banned in Germany and in all of Europe."

Ms Koch-Mehrin is one of 14 vice-presidents of the parliament and sits on the bureau, the highest administrative body in the chamber. Declaring that she welcomes the Belgian parliament's decision "quite explicitly," she went on: "The burqa is an enormous attack on the rights of women. It is a mobile prison." She added that the full veil represents an embrace of ".....values we in Europe do not share. And I admit it: When I meet people on the streets fully veiled, I'm disturbed. I can not judge what their intentions towards me are. I'm not afraid, but I am unsure." The German Free Democrats are economic liberals with a strong belief in personal freedoms. However, according to Ms Koch-Mehrin, there are limits to this freedom and the EU should decide on behalf of Muslim women the limits of what clothing they can wear. "Freedom can not go so far as to take away the public faces of humans. At least not in Europe," she said.

Civil liberties groups and human rights organisations, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, have strongly condemned the Belgian ban, arguing that it is a form of symbolic attack on the Muslim community in Europe as a whole. In Belgium, only an estimated several dozen out of the country's 375,000 Muslims wear the burqa. Ms Koch-Mehrin's remarks come ahead of important regional elections in Germany on 9 May.

[Al-khiyal]

Burqa ban 'inappropriate': German interior minister

May 4, 2010 -- Germany's interior minister hit out at moves in Belgium and France to ban the wearing of the full Islamic veil or burqa in public, saying even a debate would be "unnecessary." Such a move is "inappropriate and therefore not required," Thomas de Maiziere said, according to excerpts of an interview published by the Leipziger Volkszeitung local daily.

President Nicolas Sarkozy's government is drafting a bill that would make it illegal to wear the face-covering veil, making France the second European country after Belgium to move toward a ban. Belgian MPs approved a bill last week. It will not enter into force for weeks and may have to be re-examined if early elections are called as Belgium battles a political crisis. Both countries have drawn fire from rights campaigners and Muslim groups. On Sunday German MEP Silvana Koch-Mehrin, European parliament vice-president and a member of Chancellor Angela Merkel's junior coalition partners, called for a Europe-wide ban.

Italian police fined a Muslim woman 500 euros (650 dollars) for wearing a full Islamic veil in a street in the northern city of Novara, possibly the first such incident in Italy, city officials said Tuesday. The city is a stronghold of the anti-immigration Northern League, allies to Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, and adopted a decree in January banning the burqa in public places, Mauro Franzinelli of the municipal police told AFP. While there is no specific legislation on the burqa, covering the face in public - even with a motorcycle helmet - has been banned in Italy since 1975.

[Al-khiyal]

الرئيس الألماني يعارض حظر النقاب ويؤكد أن الإسلام دين سلام

أكد رئيس ألمانيا الاتحادية، هورست كولر، معارضته لفرض حظر على ''النقاب'' في البلاد، مؤكدا أن النقاش حول القضية ''لا يجوز أن يتخذ منحى أيديولوجيا''.

نقلت وكالة ''آكي'' الإيطالية للأنباء عن كولر قوله إنه على الرغم من كون النقاب يتعارض مع فهمه في مجال تحقيق المساواة للمرأة: ''إلا أنني أفضل إجراء محادثات واجتماعات مع المسلمين'' حول المسألة. وأضاف رئيس الدولة الألماني أنه ''إذا كانت بعض النسوة في ألمانيا لازلن يرغبن في ارتداء النقاب، فأنا لا أرى في ذلك سببا حتى الآن للدعوة إلى فرض حظر عليه''.

وأكد الرئيس الألماني ''أن الإسلام دين سلام وأن اللقاء بين الأديان أمر جوهري ويحمل في طياته الأمل''، مشيرا إلى أن ''الدستور الاتحادي يحمي الإسلام أيضا''. ومن الواضح ''أن تسمح الدولة، على سبيل المثال، بالتعليم الديني الإسلامي باللغة الألمانية''. هذا وكانت الجمعية الوطنية الفرنسية ناقشت، أمس، مشروع قرار يقضي باعتبار النقاب متنافيا وقيم الجمهورية، كخطوة أولى رمزية تمهد لمشروع قانون يحظر النقاب في الأماكن العامة، ستتم مناقشته في مجلس الوزراء في جويلية المقبل، أسوة ببلجيكا التي صادق برلمانها، الشهر الفارط، على قانون مماثل يحظر النقاب في الأماكن العامة.