Category Archives: Hijab

French businessman to pay ‘burqa’ fines in Netherlands too

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The Netherlands is about to ban burqas in public. In doing so it is following the example of France and Belgium. Rachid Nekkaz, a Muslim with an Algerian background, has set up a million-euro fund in France to pay the fines.

He thinks burqa bans violate European constitutional rights and fundamental freedoms, which is strange because personally he believes burkas do not help integration: “Personally I am against burqas, because I don’t think wearing a niqaab helps the integration of these women into French society.”

After the introduction of a burqa ban in France, Mr Nekkaz set up the organisation Touche Pas à Ma Constitution or Don’t Touch My Constitution. The organisation will also help Dutch women if the ban is introduced. “Dutch women who get fined can phone me.” Mr Nekkaz says. “My number is on the internet.”

And it is not just an empty promise. The rich 38-year-old entrepreneur has already paid fines for two girls in Brussels. He says one million euros may be a lot of money, but it is nothing if it enables you to defend civil liberties.

The cabinet will decide on the ban today. Then it still has to go through parliament, but it is already clear that a parliamentary majority backs the measure.

In Belgium, legal proceedings have been taken against the ban (which includes the niqaab). The court’s verdict is expected soon.

RNW, 16 September 2011

Dutch government drafts veil ban legislation

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The Dutch prime minister says the government has drawn up legislation to ban face-covering veils such as the burqa worn by some Muslim women.

Mark Rutte says the proposed ban will be sent to the government’s legal advisory body, the Council of State, before lawmakers vote on it, a process likely to take months.

The government said in a statement Friday that the ban aims at “protecting the character and customs of public life in the Netherlands.”

Associated Press, 16 September 2011

Catholic school may ban Islamic headscarves, Amsterdam court rules

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Imane MahssanA Catholic secondary school in Volendam is within its right to ban pupils from wearing Islamic headscarves, Amsterdam appeal court said on Tuesday.

The court said independent schools, such as the Don Bosco College, can set standards to uphold their own values, as long as they apply the rules consistently. This is the case at the Volendam school, the court said.

In addition, the pupil was well aware the school was a Catholic institution when she applied and should have realised that adopting Islamic dress would not be allowed.

The school in the former fishing village introduced the ban several months after Imane Mahssan had requested permission to wear a headscarf and had begun doing so. She was then banned from attending lessons.

The girl’s father took the case to the Equal Opportunities Commission. It ruled in the girl’s favour, but the school decided to ignore the ruling, prompting the girl to go to court. It found in favour of the school, prompting the girl to take the case to appeal.

Dutch News, 6 September 2011

Spain: another town bans the veil

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A small town on the Spanish resort island of Mallorca has banned women from wearing burkas or face-covering Islamic veils in public places, even though only two women living there are known to do so.

Mayor Biel Serra of the town of Sa Pobla said last night’s vote was not about cultural or religious discrimination but rather an issue of public safety and having people show their faces so they can be identified. He told the AP today the ban also applies to other face-covering headgear like ski masks.

Sa Pobla joins a handful of other Spanish towns who have enacted some form of ban on body-covering burkas or face-covering niqabs. Biel said the two women in Sa Pobla wore the latter.

Associated Press, 6 September 2011

A decade of bias voiced at 9/11 hearing

Posted on by Bob Pitt

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. – At an event here Aug. 27 to mark the 10-year anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, harrowing stories were related of bullying in schools, workplace harassment, hate crimes based on religious affiliations and persecution by law enforcement agencies due to wearing faith-based hair coverings.

The three-hour hearing, “Unheard Voices of 9/11”, dramatically presented the decade-long impact after 9/11 on Arab, Muslim and Sikh American communities.

“Most of the bullying that I faced happened in middle school,” said Sarah O’Neal, a young hijab-wearing Muslim at the first panel on school bullying. “I was called a ‘towel head’ and some students asked me if I had relatives in al-Qaeda.” Currently a junior at Wilcox High School in Santa Clara, Calif., she added, “I felt marginalized, upset and unaccepted. I don’t want other kids to experience what I experienced in school because of my religion and because I wear a hijab.”

Navneet Singh, 16, of Redwood City, Calif., said, “I have felt isolated from elementary school onwards. In the fourth grade, I got punched in my face by a high school (student). I have been asked if I am related to any terrorist. I feel like I have to walk around with my guard up all the time.”

Speakers at the program, organized by state Assemblyman Paul Fong, D-Cupertino, Calif., the Sikh Coalition and the Council on American Islamic Relations, besides voicing their experiences, emphasized the need for policies and ideas to combat bigotry.

India West, 2 September 2011

Altercation at New York amusement park after Muslim women banned from rides for wearing headscarves

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Playland logoA New York amusement park was temporarily shut down Tuesday after a large-scale altercation erupted between Muslim patrons and park rangers over a disagreement on headgear rules.

Muslim women in a tour group at Rye Playland in Westchester County were reportedly denied access to several rides because they were wearing hijabs – their traditional headscarves, MyFoxNY reports.

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Cork councillor calls for veil ban

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A Cork councillor has called for a ban on burkas, balaclavas or other any clothing that masks identity, on the grounds of public safety.

Cllr Joe O’Callaghan (FG) said now was the time to deal with the issue as those affected are a “tiny minority”. His comments were rejected by, among others, Ali Selim, of the Islamic Cultural Centre of Ireland, who described the proposal as “unnecessary”.

Mr O’Callaghan proposed a motion to Cork City Council, calling on Minister for Justice Alan Shatter to ban burkas and give gardaí powers to order youths to remove their hoodies.

“I knew this would cause controversy but I live in a free country and if I have an opinion I will express it. I’m doing it now because I feel now is the time to address this issue, not in five years’ time,” he said. The councillor said burkas, along with balaclavas and hoodies, have become unacceptable in public places for reasons of “public safety and common sense” following recent riots in London.

He added the burka had no place in modern Irish society. “Wearing a burka is an affront to women in this day and age and this view has been endorsed by one of our local Muslim leaders in Cork. I fail to accept that anyone with any cop-on would like to wrap themselves in what looks like a curtain all day,” Mr O’Callaghan said.

He endorsed the introduction of an Irish law making it obligatory not to cover one’s identity in public.

Mr Selim said the councillor was placing the burka, which has religious significance, in the same context as the hoodie, which has a criminal context.

“How many women has he talked to? And if some women choose to dress this way, why is he imposing a different way of clothing upon them?” Mr Selim said. “Ireland is a society with a good understanding of religion. There are lots of traditions shared between Irish society and Muslim communities. We should aim to unite on friendly ground, not aim to cause conflict among members of the same society.”

Irish Times, 20 August 2011

Via ENGAGE

Melbourne’s mayor accused of attack on Santa

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Robert Doyle has compared burqa-wearing Muslims to Santa Claus.

Melbourne’s Lord Mayor yesterday said banning the burqa for security reasons could equally apply to people dressed as Santa. “After all, he’s got that red cap with the white band pulled down low over his forehead and then he’s got this false beard that hides most of his face in the lower part. So maybe those guys should be banned because you can’t really identify them,” he joked.

But anti-burqa senator Cory Bernardi said that Santa had no place in the debate. “It surprises me that the thought bubble from Robert Doyle would question one of our great cultural traditions in defence of something that is so alien to most Australians,” he said. “Unfortunately, there are already too many instances when our cultural traditions and celebrations have been abandoned to appease the disease of political correctness.”

A group of Victorian youths held an anti-burqa protest on Monday in response to the case of a Sydney woman who, because of identity issues caused by her wearing a burqua, successfully appealed against a jail sentence for deliberately making a false statement.

Cr Doyle said that calls to ban the burqa were offensive and a sign of prejudice and that there were procedures in place for police and customs staff who needed to properly identify someone wearing a burqua.

Herald Sun, 20 July 2011

See also Helen Szoke, “Burqa rally is about stoking fear not promoting security”, Sydney Morning Herald, 20 July 2011

Jail for refusal to remove veil in New South Wales

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Australian authorities said motorists who refused to take off face-covering veils such as the burqa when asked to do so by police could be sent to jail for up to a year.

Under the changes to laws in New South Wales state, police will be able to ask drivers to remove helmets, masks, the face-covering niqab veil and the all-body garment the burqa. Refusal to do so would incur a fine of Aus$220 (US$228), but in the most serious cases could result in up to a year in jail and a fine of Aus$5,500.

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French businessman pays Belgian face veil fines

Posted on by Bob Pitt

French businessman Rachid Nekkaz stands next to Halima and Imen after he paid their fines for wearing a niqab in BrusselsA French businessman paid fines Wednesday for two women in Belgium who wore full-face veils in public and said he would take Belgium and France to court over laws banning Muslim niqabs and burqas.

Property dealer Rachid Nekkaz has set up a 1 million euro ($1.4 million) fund to cover fines and paid the first 50-euro penalties imposed in Belgium on two women in Brussels.

“France and Belgium have decided to forbid the possibility and the liberty of women to wear what they want,” he told reporters outside a municipal office in Brussels. The two fined women, both wearing niqabs, were also present.

“I consider that … it’s not acceptable that European governments vote in laws that don’t respect individual rights.”

Belgium’s law banning any covering of the face in public came into effect late last month. France was the first country to introduce a ban in Europe in April.

Nekkaz said he planned a legal challenge in both countries. “I will pursue the French and Belgian states in their national courts and then in the European Court of Human Rights so that they are sanctioned for violating individual liberties.”

Reuters, 17 August 2011