The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has upheld a French ban on wearing the Mulsim full-face veil or ‘niqab’.
Under French law, no-one is permitted to wear clothing intended to conceal the face in public spaces, and breaching this order carries a &euro150 (£120) fine and the possibility of the offender having to undergo ‘citizenship instruction’.
A 24-year-old French Muslim woman, identified only by the initials SAS, argued that this rule violated her freedom of religion, protected under Article 9 of the European Convention of Human Rights, and brought the case to the ECtHR.
However, the court ruled that the ban is legal because it is against all clothing that covers that face and “not expressly based on the religious connotation of the clothing in question”.
The court ruled that the ban “was not expressly based on the religious connotation of the clothing in question but solely on the fact that it concealed the face”. The Strasbourg judges’ decision is final – there is no appeal against it.
Around 5 million Muslims live in France, but only around 2,000 women are believed to follow the strict conservative tradition of wearing a niqab.
