{"id":84190,"date":"2011-04-11T12:44:49","date_gmt":"2011-04-11T07:44:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.epress.am\/?p=84190"},"modified":"2011-04-11T12:45:21","modified_gmt":"2011-04-11T07:45:21","slug":"france-begins-enforcement-on-controversial-burqa-ban","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/2011\/04\/11\/france-begins-enforcement-on-controversial-burqa-ban.html","title":{"rendered":"France Begins Enforcement on Controversial Burqa Ban"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A law has come into force in France which makes it an offence for a woman to conceal her face behind a veil when in public, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/world-europe-13031397\"><strong><span style=\"color: #000080;\">BBC<\/span><\/strong><\/a> reports.<\/p>\n<p>The ban pertains to the burqa, a full-body covering that includes a mesh over the face, and the niqab, a full-face veil that leaves an opening only for the eyes, <a href=\"http:\/\/edition.cnn.com\/2011\/WORLD\/europe\/04\/11\/france.burqa.ban\/\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\"><strong>CNN<\/strong><\/span><\/a> reports.<\/p>\n<p>The hijab, which covers the hair and neck but not the face, and the chador, which covers the body but not the face, apparently are not banned by the law.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The ban does not target the wearing of a headscarf, head-gear, scarf or glasses, as long as the accessories do not prevent the person from being identified,&#8221; the Interior Ministry said in a statement.<\/p>\n<p>Anyone caught breaking the law will be liable to a fine of 150 euros ( about $217 US) and a citizenship course.<\/p>\n<p>People forcing women to wear the veil face a much larger fine and prison sentences: Forcing a woman to wear a niqab or a burqa is punishable by a year in prison and a 30,000 euro fine (about $43,400). Forcing a minor to do the same thing is punishable by two years in prison and a fine of 60,000 euros.<\/p>\n<p>France is the first country in Europe to publicly ban a form of dress some Muslims regard as a religious duty.<\/p>\n<p>Under the law, any woman \u2014 French or foreign \u2014 walking on the street or in a park in France and wearing a face-concealing veil such as the niqab or burqa can be stopped by police and given a fine.<\/p>\n<p>The French government says the face-covering veil undermines the basic standards required for living in a shared society and also relegates its wearers to an inferior status incompatible with French notions of equality.<\/p>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A law has come into force in France which makes it an offence for a woman to conceal her face behind a veil when in public.<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":84062,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tstyn_error":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[24592,24591,24590,24594,10790,19879,24593],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84190"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=84190"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84190\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/84062"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84190"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84190"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84190"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}