Arstotzka's People's Assembly approves burqa ban

[President Costava]

 

ARSTOTZKA - The Arstotzkan People's Assembly approved earlier this evening a law banning any veils that cover the face, including the burqa, the full-body covering worn by some Muslim women, making Arstotzka one of the few countries to plan such a measure. The law passed by a vote of 200 to 8 with about 92 abstentions coming essentially from the Democratic Union of Arstotzka opposition party. The legislation was overwhelmingly approved by the People's Assembly and will go into effect at one minute past midnight.

 

Some 81 percent of people polled approved of a ban, while 19 percent disapproved. A panel of Arstotzkan lawmakers recommended a ban last week, and lawmakers unanimously passed a non-binding resolution calling the full-face veil contrary to the laws of the nation.

 

"Given the damage it produces on those rules which allow the life in community, ensure the dignity of the person and equality between sexes, this practice, even if it is voluntary, cannot be tolerated in any public place," the Arstotzkan government said. The law imposes a fine of 150 Roubles and/or a citizenship course as punishment for wearing a face-covering veil. Forcing a woman to wear a niqab or a burqa will be punishable by a year in prison or a 500 Roubles fine, the government said, calling it "a new form of enslavement that the Glorious Republic of Arstotzka cannot accept on its soil."

 

The Democratic Union of Arstotzka led by MP Petro Symonenko has warned the National Party led government that the ban could be incompatible with international human rights laws and the country's own constitution. 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. 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.

 

However,a 1991 law in Arstotzka bans the wearing or displaying of overt religious symbols in schools other than eastern-orthodox ones - an heritage of the first and uncertain post-communist years of the country - including the wearing of headscarves by schoolgirls. Arstotzka does not keep its own statistics on religious affiliation of the population, in keeping with its laws requiring the state to be strictly secular, but the Arstotzka Human Rights Commission estimates about 2000 muslims live in the country, 10% of the total population. 

[President Costava]

 

ARSTOTZKA - Arstotzka’s law banning the full Muslim veil has returned to the forefront of debate following an outburst of urban violence apparently sparked by police action against a woman in a Grestin City suburb. Officials said this morning about 20 vehicles were set alight and four people arrested in a first night of disturbances around the capital city, where the original incident took place.

 

It followed several hours of rioting in a suburb of the Capital where the husband of a woman stopped for wearing the veil was being held on allegations of having assaulted the police officers involved. He was later released pending charges but a 14-year-old boy was seriously injured in the eye and several police were hurt during the clashes. Around 200 people attacked the police with rocks and fireworks and riot squads used teargas against the crowd.

 

The current government is in an awkward position over the burka law, which bars the face being covered in public. The Democratic Union Party abstained when it was introduced by the right-wing government of Prime Minister Leonid Kuchma, against angry opposition by Muslim groups. President Jorji Costava has made no move to overturn the legislation and is backing police action to uphold it.

 

Prime Minister Leonid Kuchma, under strong pressure from the National Party of Arstotzka to reinforce application of the law, said in an interview with Truth of Arstotzka newspaper: ‘The law must be applied everywhere and for everybody.’ Asked whether police enforcement of the burka law was inappropriate, he replied: ‘These controls must be carried out, as prescribed, with discretion, but there is no period, whatever the religion, when the law does not apply.’ In a statement he said a strong security force presence would be maintained around Grestin City ‘until a sustained calm returns’.

 

MPs of the National Party of Arstotzka whose popularity is mounting steadily in the opinion polls ahead of general elections last month, were quick to add their voice to the issue, saying the riots were linked to mass immigration. They said Arstotzka was ‘losing its iron fist against the vandals, Islamists and delinquents. It is more than time to bang the fist on the table to restore law and order on every square metre of the national territory.’

 

Edited September 16, 2013 by President Costava