Tunisian Woman Fined For Wearing Veil In Italy

From the NYT:

MILAN (Reuters) - A 26-year-old Tunisian woman has been fined for wearing a face veil while walking to a mosque in northern Italy, stoking an increasing debate on the integration of Muslim minorities in Europe.

Police in the city of Novara, a stronghold of Italy's anti-immigration Northern League, stopped the Muslim woman on Friday while she was walking with her husband to prayers wearing a black niqab that covered her face but left her eyes exposed.

Police handed her a 500-euro fine under a bylaw introduced in January by the mayor of Novara which bans clothing in public that prevents identification by police.

"We just enforced a local law that stops people from covering their face near sensitive places like schools, hospitals or post offices," inspector Leonardo Borghesani told Reuters. "We understand the fine is hefty, but she can appeal."

The Northern League, a coalition ally of conservative Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, is pushing for legislation to outlaw face-covering Islamic garments in public.

That would follow in the footsteps of Belgium and France, where similar laws are expected to come into force in the next few months.

WOMEN'S DIGNITY
Promoters of bans say the veils go against public security and negate the dignity of women.

Initiatives toward a full veil ban have sparked protests from Muslim leaders in Europe, who resent laws that could discriminate against them on religious grounds.

The woman's husband defended the Islamic tradition.

"I respect the Italian law. I have been living here for 10 years," he told the Corriere della Sera newspaper. "But Amel can't be seen by other men."

The Northern League mayor of Novara said face-covering veils demean women. "We can't accept cultures that destroy women's dignity," Massimo Giordano said in a statement.

Europe is waking up, and America is still far behind.

France, Belgium, and now Italy, are all prosecuting women for wearing the Burqa and Niqab (face-coverings) in public.

The stated reason here, that face veils "destroy women's dignity" squares with the Western respect for God-given Human Rights.

America still does not defend women's dignity in the face of Islam. I have seen women chained into burqas just blocks away from Disneyland, the Happiest Place on Earth. In fact, I have seen the Portable Concentration Camp walking through Disneyland itself.

In Islam, women do not get to choose an education, whom to marry, or whether to work. When a human being has no choice in their lives, not even the choice to present their face to the world, they are slaves.

If we were serious about Women's Rights in America, we would not allow this enslavement of women.

My hats off to Europe. Thank God you are waking up. I pray to God we will soon wake up as well.