France will issue recommendations against full face veils but not pass a law barring Muslim women from wearing them, a leading backer of a legal ban has said. André Gerin, chairman of a parliamentary inquiry into use of full face veils in France, reluctantly ruled out a ban. France banned Muslim headscarves in state schools…
As the French commission on niqab/burqa-wearing, led by André Gerin, heads to Lille, journalists expect more heated discussion as two niqab-wearing women and several imams will be auditioned. Mahmoud Doua, imam and member of the Union of Islamic Organizations in France (UOIF or l’Union des organisations islamiques de France) called for French Muslims to conform…
PCF (French Communist Party) member André Gerin has addressed a letter to François Fillon against changing laws to allow “Shari’a compatible” Islamic banking in France, claiming that accommodation is not appropriate and that this new banking calls into question “democratic and republican values.” Le Monde reports that two laws which would have allowed for greater…
As the commission into the wearing of the burqa in France led by André Gerin continues, five banlieusard mayors from Monfermeil, Cachan, Rillieux-la-Pape, Clichy-sous-Bois and Gonesse were interviewed to express their positions on French secularism and the impact of a possible ban. Generally, they noted an increase in the number of parents and students who…
Two French police intelligence agencies have issued reports calling burqa use in the country a “marginal phenomenon,” one of which claimed fewer than 400 women wear the full-body covering. The wearing of burqas has been a controversial issue in France. French legislators have pondered banning the use of burqas and niqabs, full-face veils that ,unlike…
