Islam Times - French law stigmatizes Muslims

(Islam Times) - Muslims in the French city of Nantes, where a woman was fined for driving while wearing an Islamic veil, have expressed concerns over stigmatizing Muslims.

Islam Times reports from Press TV: “The Muslims of Nantes are worried by this systematic stigmatization which goes against the values of the Republic,” the collective of Nantes mosques said in a statement on Sunday.

The association “considers that the stopping of a driver is a judicial procedure and is angry at how such event has been turned into being all about Islam.”

The woman says her rights have been violated and she is challenging the fine in court.

Earlier in the month, Nantes police fined a Muslim woman wearing an Islamic face veil while driving for $29. The police claimed the veil limited "freedom of movement and a sufficient field of vision," according to the victim's attorney, Jean-Michel Pollono.

Speaking on Franco-Info radio, Pollono argued that a veil is "the same as a motorcycle helmet" in terms of hindrance to vision.

President Nicolas Sarkozy's government plans to push ahead with a ban on wearing a full-face veil in public, despite warnings from state legal experts that such a law will violate freedom of religion and is unconstitutional.

After the government's proposal on banning Islamic veil and the Nantes incident, the controversial issue has gained momentum, dominating French news and politics.

France is home to the largest Muslim population among the 27 European Union member states. Nearly 10 percent of the country's 62 million citizens are Muslims.