THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Two French women who continue to wear the full-face veil in defiance of a new law banning it in France this morning became the first to receive fines since its enactment.
Hind Ahmas and Najate Nait Ali were caught wearing the niqab in public outside Meaux town hall, eastern Paris, in May.
The women immediately vowed to appeal their case all the way to the European Court of Human Rights if the fines are confirmed by a higher court.
Miss Ahmas, 32, was ordered to pay a 120-euro (£104) fine, while Miss Nait Ali, 36, was fined 80 euros (£70). The court chose not to order them to take a citizenship course, as had been requested by the prosecutor.
The two women arrived too late to attend the ruling. One had been refused entry into court in May because she would not take off her niqab to show her face.
"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 Yann Gre from the Don't Touch My Constitution association defending the two women.
The women were arrested when they brought a birthday cake for mayor and MP Jean-Francois Copé, who pushed Europe's first anti-burqa law through parliament. Mr Copé is head of President Nicolas Sarkozy's right-wing UMP party. » | Henry Samuel, Paris | Thursday, September 22, 2011
