France’s highest administrative court ruled Thursday that a school ban on abayas, traditional over-garments worn by some Muslim girls, is legal.
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The Council of State, France’s highest court for complaints against government authorities, said it rejected a motion by an association for an injunction against the ban ordered by the government last week. month, saying it does not discriminate against Muslims.
President Emmanuel Macron’s government announced last month that it was banning the abaya in schools, saying it violated the rules of secularism in education that already see Muslim headscarves banned on the grounds that they are a display of religion. .
But 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 and the qamis, the equivalent of this dress for men.
The association argued that the ban was discriminatory and could incite hatred against Muslims, as well as racial profiling.
The Council of State has been examining the motion, filed by Action for the Rights of Muslims (ADM), since Tuesday, and decided in favor of continuing the ban on Thursday.
The Council of the Muslim Faith in France (CFCM), set up to represent Muslims before the government, warned that the abaya ban would create “a high risk of discrimination” and said it was considering putting itself complaint to the Council of State.
ADM’s lawyer, Vincent Brengarth, argued during the court hearing that the abaya should be considered traditional clothing, not religious.
He also accused the government of seeking political advantage in the ban.
ADM president Sihem Zine said the rule was “sexist” because it singled out women and “targeted Arabs”.
But the education ministry said the abaya made its wearers “immediately identifiable as belonging to the Muslim religion”.
French schools sent home scores of girls for refusing to remove their abayas – a shoulder-to-toe garment – on the first day of the school year on Monday.
Nearly 300 female students opposed the ban, Education Minister Gabriel Attal said.
Most agreed to change clothes but 67 refused and were sent home, he said.
About 10 percent of France’s 67 million inhabitants are Muslim, according to official estimates.
Most have their origins in the northern African countries of Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia, which were French colonies until the second half of the 20th century.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP)
