The French government has refused to grant citizenship to a foreign national on the grounds that he forced his wife to wear the full Islamic veil. The Moroccan-born man needed citizenship to settle in the country with his French wife. Immigration Minister Eric Besson said this was being refused because he was depriving his wife of the liberty to come and go with her face uncovered.
In a statement, Besson said he had signed a decree on Tuesday rejecting a man’s citizenship application after it emerged that he had ordered his wife to cover herself with a head-to-toe veil.
“It became apparent during the regulation investigation and the prior interview that this person was compelling his wife to wear the all-covering veil, depriving her of the freedom to come and go with her face uncovered, and rejected the principles of secularism and equality between men and women,” he said.
Later, the minister stressed that French law required anyone seeking naturalisation to demonstrate their desire for integration. Besson’s decree has now been sent to Prime Minister Francois Fillon for approval. In 2008, a French court denied citizenship to a Moroccan woman on the grounds that her “radical” practice of Islam was incompatible with French values.
