Burka-wearing woman denied citizenship for being 'submissive'

A MOROCCAN woman who wears a black burka has been denied French citizenship on the grounds she is too submissive.

The Council of State ruled that the woman, who is married to a French national, speaks good French and has three children, all born in France, should be denied citizenship because her "radical" practice of Islam is incompatible with French values such as equality of the sexes.

The 32-year-old woman, named only as Faiza M, has lived in France since 2000. She wears a burka that covers her body from head to foot, leaving a narrow slit for her eyes. According to social services, she lives in "total submission" to her husband and male relatives including her father and brother-in-law.

The daily Le Monde said it was the first time a Muslim applicant had been rejected for reasons to do with personal religious practice. Until now, only Muslim applicants who were judged to be close to fundamentalist movements or who had published radical Islamic views have been refused French citizenship and none took their case so far in the French legal process.

Mme M was first refused French nationality in 2005 on the grounds that she had "failed to assimilate". She appealed by taking her case to the Council of State, a body which has final say on disputes between individuals and the public administration. Arguing that since her arrival in 2000 she had "never sought to call into question the fundamental values of the Republic", she asked the Council to overturn the decision. It handed down its controversial ruling on 27 June, but its decision was not reported until yesterday.

"She has adopted a radical practice of her religion, incompatible with essential values of the French community, particularly the principle of equality of the sexes," said the ruling.

The government representative Emmanuelle Prada-Bordenave who was responsible for giving a judicial opinion on the case, said she had based her recommendations on the interviews between the couple, the police and social services.

Mme M had presented herself at these interviews "covered with women's clothing from the Arabic peninsula, a long dress falling to her feet and a veil masking her hair, her forehead and her chin and a piece of fabric masking the face with only the eyes showing through a slit".

The couple acknowledged they were Salafists – a branch of Islam which advocates a rigorous reading of the Koran.

Mme M told social services she wore the burka "more out of habit than any conviction".

"From her own declarations, she lives an almost reclusive life, cut off from French society," said Mme Prada-Bordenave. "She has no idea of secularism or the right to vote. She lives in total submission to the men in her family. She appears to find that normal…"

The case has reignited the debate about how to reconcile freedom of religion, which is guaranteed by the French con-stitution, and other fundamental rights, which many in France fear are being threatened by the way of life of some Muslims.

Shockwaves of wife who wasn't virgin

ISLAMIC culture and the French authorities are no strangers to mutual enmity.

In May this year, the marriage of a French Muslim couple from Lille was annulled by a judge after the husband discovered his wife was not a virgin.

Justice Minister Rachida Dati, herself of Moroccan heritage, at first defended the original ruling, noting that the annulment came at the request of both parties. But after facing criticism during a parliamentary debate last month, she asked state prosecutors to appeal against the ruling.

An appeals court subsequently blocked the initial decision.

The matter is effectively frozen until 22 September, when the same court will hear arguments on the substance of the case. Meanwhile, in a poll released on 5 June in the newspaper Le Figaro, 73 per cent of respondents said they were "shocked" by the original ruling.

Article 180 of the French civil code says a marriage can be annulled at the request of one or both parties if one of them misrepresented "essential qualities" about themselves. It does not define those qualities.