It appears the European anti-burqa “crusade” has moved from Sarkozy’s France to Berlusconi’s Italy. Where, the Northern League,  a member of the ruling right-wing coalition is putting forward proposals to have the burqa banned:

“Italy today became the latest European government to announce it was considering introducing a law which would make wearing a burqa illegal.

MPs from the anti-immigration Northern League party, a member of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s ruling right wing coalition, have presented the proposal in a bill…..

…The Northern League’s proposal aims at amending a 1975 law, introduced amid concern over domestic terrorism, which bans anyone wearing anything which makes their identification impossible.

The only exceptions are for ‘justified cause’ – which until now has been interpreted to include religious reasons in court rulings against local bans on the burqa.

The Northern League also has the backing of Berlusconi’s People of Freedom party. The League’s Roberto Cota said: ‘We are not racist and we have nothing against Muslims but the law must be equal for everyone.

‘The aim of this bill is to clarify the 1975 law in a definitive way and allow the ban to be extended to garments worn for reasons of religious affiliation.’

MP Barbara Saltamartini, of the People of Freedom, said:’Banning the burqa can not be considered anti-Muslim because wearing it is not obligatory in Islam.

‘The Imam of Al-Azhar University in Cairo, the highest authority in Sunni Islam, has just stated unequivocally that Muslim women have the right to their own identity and that the burqa is not part of Muslim tradition.

‘This position is of extreme importance not only because it dismantles false myths perpetrated by a patriarchal fundamentalism, but also because it shows how the dignity of a women is compatible with the symbols and values of Islam.” {Source: Daily Mail}

Surprise, surprise did’nt take them long to jump on to Shaikh Tantawi’s pronouncements did it ?

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