French court issues first fine for face veil-wearing women

MEAUX, France, Sept 22, 2011 (AFP) -A French police court on Thursday issued its first fines against two women charged with wearing the full-face covering Islamic niqab.

Police have issued several on-the-spot fines since the ban came into effect in April but these are the first court-issued fines, with the women vowing to appeal their case all the way to the European Court of Human Rights.

Hind Ahmas, 32, was ordered to pay a 120-euro fine, while Najate Nait Ali, 36, was fined 80 euros. The court did not order them to take a citizenship course, as had been requested by the prosecutor.

The two women arrived too late to attend the court's deliberations. One of the women had not been allowed into the court in May because she refused to take off her niqab to show her face.

Yann Gre from the Don't Touch My Constitution association that is defending the two women who were arrested in May in front of the town hall of Meaux, around 50 kilometres (30 miles) east of Paris, said that they would appeal.

If the fines are confirmed by a higher court, they will take their case to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, he said.

"This law forbids women in niqab from leaving their homes and going out in public. It's a kind of life-sentence to prison," he said.

The women were arrested in May when they brought a birthday cake for mayor and MP Jean-Francois Cope, also head of President Nicolas Sarkozy's right-wing UMP party that pushed Europe's first anti-burqa law through parliament.

Cope was instrumental in getting the ban's scope expanded from official building to anywhere on the street, according to Don't Touch My Constitution.

Several other niqab-wearing women turned out in solidarity for the sentencing, including Kenza Drider from the southern city of Avignon, who declared herself candidate in next year's presidential election.

It is however doubtful that she will be able to get the 500 signatures from elected officials required to stand.

The divisive law came into effect at an already fraught moment in relations between the state and France's Muslim minority, with Sarkozy accused of stigmatising Islam to win back votes from a resurgent far right.

French officials estimate that only around 2,000 women, from a total Muslim population estimated at between four and six million, wear the full-face veils that are traditional in parts of the Arab world and South Asia.

Many Muslims and rights activists say the right-wing president is targeting one of France's most vulnerable groups to signal to anti-immigration voters that he shares their fear that Islam is a threat to French culture.