PARIS: A Frenchwoman who wears an Islamic face veil, flouting a nationwide ban, announced on Thursday she wants to run for president in next year's elections.
A French court also fined two women who have refused to remove their veils. All three women are part of a growing attack on the law that has banned the garments from the streets of France since April and prompted similar moves toward a ban in other European countries.
They are bent on proving that the measure contravenes fundamental rights and that women who hide their faces stand for freedom, not submission. "When a woman wants to maintain her freedom, she must be bold," Kenza Drider told AP in an interview, discussing her bid to become a presidential candidate.
"I have the ambition today to serve all women who are the object of stigmatization or social, economic or political discrimination," she said."It is important that we show that we are here, we are French citizens and that we, as well, can bring solutions to French citizens."
President Nicolas Sarkozy strongly disagrees, and says the veil imprisons women. Polls show that most French people support the ban, which authorities estimate affects fewer than 2,000 women who wore the veil before the ban.
Drider declared her candidacy Thursday in Meaux, the city east of Paris run by top conservative lawmaker and Sarkozy ally Jean-Francois Cope, who championed the ban.
Two other women arrested wearing veils in Meaux - while trying to deliver a birthday cake to Cope - faced a court date Thursday. One was fined 120, the other 80. The law envisages fines up to 150 and citizenship classes for those caught wearing the face veil. The women were hoping for a conviction, so that they can take their case to France's highest court and the European Court of Human Rights.
With Islam the second religion in France, there are worries that veiled Muslim women could compromise the nation's secular foundations and undermine gender equality and women's dignity. There are also concerns that practices like wearing full veils could open the door to a radical form of Islam. Lawmakers banned Muslim headscarves in classrooms in 2004.
A French court also fined two women who have refused to remove their veils. All three women are part of a growing attack on the law that has banned the garments from the streets of France since April and prompted similar moves toward a ban in other European countries.
They are bent on proving that the measure contravenes fundamental rights and that women who hide their faces stand for freedom, not submission. "When a woman wants to maintain her freedom, she must be bold," Kenza Drider told AP in an interview, discussing her bid to become a presidential candidate.
"I have the ambition today to serve all women who are the object of stigmatization or social, economic or political discrimination," she said."It is important that we show that we are here, we are French citizens and that we, as well, can bring solutions to French citizens."
President Nicolas Sarkozy strongly disagrees, and says the veil imprisons women. Polls show that most French people support the ban, which authorities estimate affects fewer than 2,000 women who wore the veil before the ban.
Drider declared her candidacy Thursday in Meaux, the city east of Paris run by top conservative lawmaker and Sarkozy ally Jean-Francois Cope, who championed the ban.
Two other women arrested wearing veils in Meaux - while trying to deliver a birthday cake to Cope - faced a court date Thursday. One was fined 120, the other 80. The law envisages fines up to 150 and citizenship classes for those caught wearing the face veil. The women were hoping for a conviction, so that they can take their case to France's highest court and the European Court of Human Rights.
With Islam the second religion in France, there are worries that veiled Muslim women could compromise the nation's secular foundations and undermine gender equality and women's dignity. There are also concerns that practices like wearing full veils could open the door to a radical form of Islam. Lawmakers banned Muslim headscarves in classrooms in 2004.
No comments:
Post a Comment