Paris: A French court has fined two Muslim women for the first time for wearing full-face covering scarf.
The court in the town of Meaux, east of Paris, fined Hind Ahmas, 32, and another woman for appearing outside the local town hall in scarf, AFP reported.
“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,” AFP quoted Ahmas as saying.
The victim women vowed to appeal their case to the European Court of Human Rights.
Many Muslims and rights activists say the French president Nikolas Sarkozy is targeting Muslims to gain the votes of anti-immigration supporters.
Paris has declared that any woman — French or foreigner — who wears a niqab or burqa in public will be fined EUR 150. People who force women to wear such covers will face a much larger fine and a prison sentence of up to two years.
However, France — home to five million Muslims — is believed to have fewer than 2,000 women wearing a full face veil.
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