A Moroccan woman living legally in France for eight years has been refused a long-term residence card because she covers her hair with an Islamic headscarf, says her lawyer.
A regional government official wrote in a rejection letter this month that the scarf worn by Chetouani El Khamsa was a sign of Islamic fundamentalism, her lawyer Pascale Torgemen said on Thursday.
Torgemen said El Khamsa planned to appeal and to file a suit for what she contends is a discriminatory, racist and sexist decision. “Does this mean that a man with a beard is systematically Islamist, a fundamentalist?” the lawyer said.
El Khamsa has lived legally in France – where her four children were born – since 1997, employed by her husband’s business. To replace her current residence card, which must be renewed annually, she wanted a residency permit that is valid for 10 years, like the one accorded her husband.
But in a 2 November letter refusing her the 10-year card, Francois Praver, sub-prefect in the town of Raincy outside Paris, noted that during her interview, El Khamsa wore a headscarf “entirely covering your neck and the roots of your hair, comparable to a hijab, sign of belonging to a fundamentalist Islam”.