SNP attacks burqa ban attempt

Published on Saturday 17 July 2010 15:55

THE Scottish Government has criticised attempts to ban the burqa in Westminster aimed at criminalising Muslim women who choose to cover their face because of their religion.

Tory MP Philip Hollobone has posted a private members bill, which is set for a second reading in December.

He believes he enjoys support both among some MPs and across the country, including in Scotland, although crucially he has not been backed by Cabinet members within his party.

Because equality legislation is reserved to Westminster, should the bill be passed it would also apply to Scotland.

Although wearing the burqa or niqab is relatively rare among Scotland's 50,000 to 60,000-strong Muslim population any laws would impact on relatives of Scots who come to visit.

The burqa has been banned in France - which Justice Minister Michele Alliot-Marie described as a victory for "values of equality between men and women, against those who push for inequality and injustice" - and similar legislation is being debated in Spain and Belgium.

However, a Scottish Government spokesman said: "Equality legislation is reserved to the UK coalition government, and we will monitor the progress of this bill.

"However, it is important to make clear that we are opposed to a ban on women wearing a burqa and would have no intention of introducing this in Scotland."

Supporters of the bill in Westminster believe that if introduced the proposal would help break down barriers within communities by allowing people to see the faces of the women they are speaking to.

However, the Muslim Council of Scotland warned it would have the opposite effect and be extremely divisive. Convener Salah Beltagui said: "People will feel this is an interference in something that is personal.

"They will say that all this freedom of speech and freedom of expression is just talk. If this is to be enforced it will create bad feeling between people who want to do this in government and the Muslim community."

Dr Brona Murphy, of Edinburgh University, who is conducting research among Scottish Muslim women said: "(The Muslim headscarf] is a representation of who they are. One woman told me she cried at an airport because she had to take it off while passing through security.

"Another said that if she is sitting among a group of females she could take it off, but she still would not feel comfortable.

"It reminds them to continue to believe in God. They can't understand the public perception of them."