I don’t know how many of you caught this (the finals crush affects us all). A reminder of how present the cultural issues of the veil (specifically the niqab) are in France, even if only for a small subset of French citizens.
The story after the jump is about two women charged for wearing the full face covering niqab. Both women spoke to journalists outside of the court. “We’ve been sentenced under a law that violates European law. For us, it’s not about the size of the fine, but the principle. We can’t allow women to be convicted for freely following their religious beliefs”
They will appeal the decision to a higher court. If the higher court confirms the fines, they will take the case to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasburg, says their lawyer, Yan Gre.
http://news.nationalpost.com/2011/09/22/french-court-issues-fines-first-women-for-full-face-veils/
It will be interesting to see what happens should it get that far.
#1 by Ngozi Esomonu on December 10, 2011 - 5:10 pm
After discussing the complexity behind the burqa in class, I decided to dig further into the issue and why it is so divisive to French society. I found a documentary entitled “The Burqa Battle-France” on Youtube. It gave a detailed insight into how and why a piece of cloth has become such a controversial object in the West.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRFWJ0fcWWY&feature=watch-now-button&wide=1http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRFWJ0fcWWY&feature=watch-now-button&wide=1