Hege Storhaug, HRS
Frankrike blir det andre landet i Europa etter Belgia som forbyr ansiktstildekning i det offentlige rommet. Myndighetene er tydeligvis engstelige for negative reaksjoner og ubehag hvis muslimske kvinner bryter forbudet. Innenriksministeren har i et ni siders brev formulert instrukser om hvordan rettsstatens lange armer skal opptre overfor kvinnene. Ansiktsslørene skal ikke fjernes i det offentlige rommet. Kvinnen som bryter forbudet skal oppfordres til å identifisere seg der og da. Nekter hun skal hun tas med til nærmeste politistasjon. Kvinnen skal ikke varetektsfengsles eller holdes på politistasjonen i mer enn fire timer. Hvis hun i løpet av disse fire timene fremdeles nekter å samarbeide, skal påtalemakten kontaktes, heter det i instruksen But officers have been ordered to apply the legislation with tact and diplomacy so as not inflame tensions, interior ministry guidelines leaked to the French press yesterday reveal.
Under the new law, women who wear face-covering Muslim veils, including the niqab and burka, in «public places» in France face being fined £125 or ordered to follow citizenship classes, or both.
The ban encompasses «the street and areas open to the public, as well as cinemas, restaurants, stations, public transport or schools». Veils must also be removed while driving, while crossing borders or taking part in official ceremonies to acquire French nationality.
Husbands and fathers who force such veils on women and girls risk a year of prison and a £25,000 fine, with both penalties doubled if the victim is a minor.
But a nine-page document signed by Claude Guéant, the interior minister, stipulates that women wearing the full veil cannot be forcibly obliged to remove them in public.
Officers who stop a woman wearing the garment must instead «invite the person to show their face in order to check their identity and establish a fine.»
If the woman persists, officers are instructed to take her to the nearest police station «as a last resort,» but not to either place her in custody or keep her waiting for more than four hours.
If she still refuses to comply, the rules state that police should contact the public prosecutor.
Rather than force, police are invited to employ «persuasion» and, where possible, involve a female officer.
I instruksen understrekes det at ansiktstildekning er tillatt i hjemmet og på bilpassasjerere. Forbudet gjelder heller ikke i eller ved moskeer. Dette visstnok for å unngå at forbudet knyttets til å begrense religionsutøvelse.
The guidelines emphasize that the full veil ban does not apply in the home or to car passengers. Nor is the ban to be enforced in or around mosques, so as not to be «interpreted as an indirect restriction of religious freedom.»
The law to «forbid concealing one’s face in public» was voted through last October after a year of heated national debate over the issue. Nine out of ten French people back it, a recent poll suggested.