US Org. Slams 'Islamophobic' French Court's Decision on Abayas
The State Council, France's highest court for complaints against government authorities, said it had rejected a motion by an association for an injunction against the ban decreed by the government last month, claiming it was not discriminatory towards Muslims.
“That the court would uphold this clearly Islamophobic, sexist and racist ban – which intentionally and solely targets female Muslim students – is yet another indication of the French government’s obsession with controlling and intimidating the Muslim community," CAIR said in a Thursday statement, also urging US officials to "speak out against this violation of religious and human rights."
The organization had earlier called on the US State Department to designate France a country of particular concern in the wake of Macron Administration's anti-Muslim policies.
The French government announced last month it was banning the abaya in schools, claiming it broke the rules on secularism in education that have already seen Muslim headscarves banned on the grounds that they constitute a display of religious affiliation. An association representing Muslims filed a motion with the State Council, France's highest court for complaints against state authorities, for an injunction against the ban on the abaya.
Critics, particularly on social media platforms, assert that loose, body-covering attire does not inherently represent a conspicuous display of religious affiliation and, as such, should not be prohibited within educational environments.
Numerous opposition lawmakers have expressed their reservations about this restriction. Danièle Obono, one such legislator, has characterized it as a “new Islamophobic campaign.”
French high school on strike
Teachers and students of a French high school have gone on strike in protest against the ban.
“We want to distance ourselves from the government’s Islamophobic policy,” read a statement from the protest group at the Maurice Utrillo high school in Stains, Seine-Saint-Denis, calling for a strike which started on Wednesday, Al Jazeera reported.
“Students must be welcomed at the Maurice Utrillo high school and we do not have to police the clothing. We refuse to stigmatise students who wear an abaya or a qamis.”
Seine-Saint-Denis, which is northeast of Paris, is an impoverished suburb – or banlieue – where many residents have ancestry in Africa and the Middle East.
The display of religious symbols has long been a topic of controversy in France, which is home to Europe’s largest Muslim minority.
On Monday, dozens of girls were sent home on their first day of school for refusing to remove their abayas.
Source: Agencies
