LONDON // A British political party has joined the growing clamour across Europe for the burqa to be banned in public places.
With France poised to become the first EU country to impose such a ban, the UK Independence Party (UKIP) is taking legal advice with the aim of including a commitment to outlaw the burqa and niqab in its manifesto for the general election, which must take place by spring.
Even the far-right British National Party has not proposed such a ban, except for schoolchildren. UKIP does not have any MPs in the House of Commons but achieved the second highest number of votes, behind the Conservatives, in last year's European elections.
In November, Lord (Malcolm) Pearson took over leadership of the party. He has highlighted what he described as the "growing threat of Islamism" and caused controversy by inviting Geert Wilders, the right-wing Dutch political leader, to show his anti-Islam film Fitna at the House of Lords. "It makes sense to ban the burqa, or anything that conceals a woman's face, in public buildings," he told The Times.
Further, he said: "We want to make it possible to ban them in private buildings. It isn't right that you can't see someone's face in an airport."
Lord Pearson added that UKIP intended to highlight the increasing influence of Sharia in Britain. "We are not Muslim-bashing, but this is incompatible with Britain's values of freedom and democracy," he said, citing the Archbishop of Canterbury's controversial call two years ago for the British legal system to adopt parts of Islamic law in the name of social cohesion.
The move in Britain is just the latest in an ever-increasing chorus of calls by political parties across Europe to have burqas and other veils banned, much as the Swiss voted late last year to block the building of minarets.
Many of these calls have come from right-wingers alarmed at what they see as the undermining of their nations' Christian values and heritage by an influx of Muslim immigrants in recent decades. But other, seemingly more liberal elements are backing the calls because they see the burqa as a manifestation of a subjugation of women that is unacceptable in western society.
Only a very small proportion of the women among the 38 million Muslims in Europe wear the burqa, but it has not stopped proposals for legislation to ban it being put forward in such countries as Denmark, Holland, Italy and, outside Europe, in Canada.
It is France, though, that has travelled furthest along the parliamentary road to outlaw facial coverings. André Gerin, a member of parliament who chaired six months of hearings into the issue, last week described full-face veils as the visible tip of an Islamist underground threatening the French way of life.
"The scope of the problem is a lot broader than I thought," he told a press conference in Lyon. "It is insidious."
The president, Nicolas Sarkozy, and his prime minister, François Fillon, are urging the French parliament to approve a resolution that full-face veils are unacceptable.
Jean-François Copé, the majority leader in parliament, put forward legislation that would ban burqas in any public place, even though concerns have been raised that such a law would be unconstitutional. France's Muslim Religion Council, which speaks for many of the country's five million Muslims, has ruled that nothing in Islam requires women to wear veils.
However, Mohammed Moussaoui, the council leader, has warned that a ban would stigmatise Muslim women much as their children were by the 2004 law banning headscarves in French schools. In Denmark, the parliament is to discuss on Wednesday a report that could lead to the banning of the burqa and niqab in certain circumstances. A survey this month showed that only three women among Denmark's 200,000 Muslim population actually wore the burqa and only about 150 to 200 wore the niqab, with up to 80 of them being Danish converts to Islam.
In the Netherlands, attempts to legislate for a general ban on burqas has been going on for more than four years. The government also backs efforts to outlaw religious clothing in schools.
In Germany, several states have had their bans on veils and scarves upheld by the courts.
dsapsted@thenational.ae
Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
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A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
Wonka
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The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
At a glance
- 20,000 new jobs for Emiratis over three years
- Dh300 million set aside to train 18,000 jobseekers in new skills
- Managerial jobs in government restricted to Emiratis
- Emiratis to get priority for 160 types of job in private sector
- Portion of VAT revenues will fund more graduate programmes
- 8,000 Emirati graduates to do 6-12 month replacements in public or private sector on a Dh10,000 monthly wage - 40 per cent of which will be paid by government
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BANGLADESH SQUAD
Mashrafe Mortaza (captain), Tamim Iqbal, Liton Das, Soumya Sarkar, Mushfiqur Rahim (wicketkeeper), Mahmudullah, Shakib Al Hasan (vice captain), Mohammad Mithun, Sabbir Rahaman, Mosaddek Hossain, Mohammad Saifuddin, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Rubel Hossain, Mustafizur Rahman, Abu Jayed (Reporting by Rohith Nair in Bengaluru Editing by Amlan Chakraborty)
RESULTS
5pm: Maiden (PA) Dh80,000 2,200m
Winner: Arjan, Fabrice Veron (jockey), Eric Lemartinel (trainer).
5.30pm: Maiden (PA) Dh80,000 1,400m
Winner: Jap Nazaa, Royston Ffrench, Irfan Ellahi.
6pm: Al Ruwais Group 3 (PA) Dh300,000 1,200m
Winner: RB Lam Tara, Fabrice Veron, Eric Lemartinal.
6.30pm: Shadwell Gold Cup Prestige Dh125,000 1,600m
Winner: AF Sanad, Bernardo Pinheiro, Khalifa Al Neyadi.
7pm: Shadwell Farm Stallions Handicap (PA) Dh70,000 1,600m
Winner: Jawal Al Reef, Patrick Cosgrave, Abdallah Al Hammadi.
7.30pm: Maiden (TB) Dh80,000 1,600m
Winner: Dubai Canal, Harry Bentley, Satish Seemar.
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
COMPANY PROFILE
Initial investment: Undisclosed
Investment stage: Series A
Investors: Core42
Current number of staff: 47
Election pledges on migration
CDU: "Now is the time to control the German borders and enforce strict border rejections"
SPD: "Border closures and blanket rejections at internal borders contradict the spirit of a common area of freedom"
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Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
WHAT IS A BLACK HOLE?
1. Black holes are objects whose gravity is so strong not even light can escape their pull
2. They can be created when massive stars collapse under their own weight
3. Large black holes can also be formed when smaller ones collide and merge
4. The biggest black holes lurk at the centre of many galaxies, including our own
5. Astronomers believe that when the universe was very young, black holes affected how galaxies formed
Kamindu Mendis bio
Full name: Pasqual Handi Kamindu Dilanka Mendis
Born: September 30, 1998
Age: 20 years and 26 days
Nationality: Sri Lankan
Major teams Sri Lanka's Under 19 team
Batting style: Left-hander
Bowling style: Right-arm off-spin and slow left-arm orthodox (that's right!)
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In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
Zayed Sustainability Prize