بلجيكا: منتقبتان تتحديان قانون حظر النقاب أمام القضاء البلجيكي

- خبر من مصادر إنجليزية.

تشهد "بلجيكا" قيام مسلمتين منتقبتين بمعارضة قانون حظر النقاب الذي تم تفعيله في الثالث والعشرين من يوليو أمام المحكمة الدستورية البلجيكية.

المسلمتان إحداهما مغربية والأخرى بلجيكية اعتنقت الإسلام وارتدت النقاب منذ 13 عامًا.

وقد أكد محاميهما أنهما ليستا الوحيدتين اللتين تعرضتا للضرر، ولكن قد أضر هذا الأمر بالعالم الإسلامي أجمع، مشيرًا إلى أن تلك الإجراءات غير مناسبة وتمييزية وتؤدي لتشويه صورة المجتمع الإسلامي. المصدر: شبكة الألوكة.

يرجى الإشارة إلى المصدر عند نقل الخبر - شبكة الألوكة.

الخبر من مصدره الأصلي:

Court challenge to Belgian burqa ban set as law comes into effect

The Belgian burqa ban is set to be challenged before the country's constitutional court by two women who willingly wear the full-body Islamic covering, their lawyer said Friday - one day before the new law was to come into effect.

'My clients are far from being the only ones,' Ines Wouters told the German Press Agency dpa. 'This is really a head-on attack on the Muslim world.'

Belgian lawmakers earlier this year approved the new law, which punishes anyone caught in public places with their face completely or partially covered - thus preventing identification - with a fine of up to 137 euros (197 dollars) and up to seven days' imprisonment.

Belgium became the second country in Europe to implement a burqa ban after France, which has penalized some 100 people since its law came into force in mid-April.

The French ban was also challenged in the courts, but eventually upheld.

Much like the French law, the Belgian measure does not specifically target burqas. But Wouters argued that the point is to go after women who wear them, as shown in the parliamentary debate that surrounded the measure.

Officials argue that the law is a matter of safety. Concerns about women being forced into wearing the burqa have also been raised.

But Wouters described the measure as disproportionate and discriminatory, arguing that it will further stigmatize the Muslim community.

She said she would file her lawsuit with the constitutional court over the weekend. It calls for the burqa ban to not only be reversed, but also suspended until the court rules on the matter.

One of her clients, a Belgian woman who converted to Islam and has worn the burqa for 13 years, is no stranger to challenging such bans. She succeeded in overturning a fine in the Brussels commune of Etterbeek, which implemented a similar local ban, Wouters said.

Her other client is a Moroccan woman who moved to Belgium a few years ago.

Both women are married, in their 30s and don't consider wearing the burqa 'an obligation, but a choice they make,' Wouters said.

'They are being accused of cutting themselves off from society' by wearing the burqa, the lawyer said. 'But, as one of them told me: 'I am the one now being excluded from society''.