Recently French President Nicolas Sarkozy stated that burqas are not welcome in France. Today we come to find out that Italy's government want to take things a step further. Hopefully these actions are just the beginning and they will lead up to a ban on Muslim immigration. Europe is not dead yet!
Italy Wants to Prosecute Burqa Women
MILAN – Plans by Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s allies to prosecute Muslim women for wearing burqa, a loose outfit covering the whole body from head to toe, is infuriating the political establishment in the southern European country.
"A ban (on the burqa) would be xenophobic and discriminatory,” Mario Scialoja, the chair of the Islamic Culture Center of Italy, told Reuters late Thursday, October 8.
“The existing law should be enforced."
The far-right Northern League is pressing to amend a 1975 law to prosecute Muslim women for wearing burqa.
The law slaps hefty fines and up to two years in jail on people covering their faces with anything preventing their identification by police.
But the Northern League is now proposing to amend the law to ban “garments worn for reasons of religious affiliation”.
The far-right party also wants to remove from the law the expression “justified cause”, which has prompted courts to allow burqa on religious grounds.
Scialoja warned that a burqa ban would stigmatise Muslims, calling on Italian authorities to treat Muslim women with respect.
"We say no to a new law."
The burqa has been a hot issue in many European countries.
Last month, the Italian spa resort town of Montegrotto Terme banned the burqa.
A French MP has also proposed a ban on the wearing, sparking outcry among the Muslim minority and across the Muslim world.
Italy has a Muslim population of some 1.2 million, including 20,000 reverts, according to unofficial estimates.
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