source: Islam Online

CAIRO – Following the suit of their Western neighbor, German politicians are proposing a full ban on the face-veil in the European country, drawing fire for violating individual freedoms.

“The burqa is a full-body prison that deeply threatens human rights,” Lale Akgun, former Social Democratic Party (SPD) lawmaker, told Frankfurter Rundschau daily Thursday, January 28.

“It would be an important signal for Germany to ban the burqa.”

The Christian Democratic Union (CDU) also proposed a blanket burqa ban.

“[If] there is a collision with other legal interests, such as schooling or headscarf ban, an action must be taken,” said lawmaker Wolfgang Bosbach.

His party colleague Norbert Geis said politicians would have to review whether a burqa ban in schools and universities would be constitutional.

The proposed German ban comes as a French parliamentary panel has recommended a partial ban on face-veils in hospitals, schools, public transport and government offices.

Many German states have already banned hijab, an obligatory code of dress, in schools.

There are some 3.5 million Muslims in Germany, two thirds of whom are of Turkish origin.

Islam comes third in Germany after Protestant and Catholic Christianity.

“We have a different understanding of freedom than the French,” Wiefelsputz, said.

Violation

But the proposed ban drew fire from fellow politicians.

“We have a different understanding of freedom than the French,” Dieter Wiefelsputz, SPD member and speaker for interior issues, said.

“I hope for an enlightened Islam, but we cannot force it.”

Environmentalist Green party leader Cem Ozdemir criticized the ban debate for focusing on minor things, overlooking the real conflict of integration.

“[It is] a symbol of debate that overlooks the true conflict,” Ozdemir said.

“The burqa is rejected by the vast majority of all Muslims, even supporters of the headscarf.”

While hijab is an obligatory code of dress for Muslim women, the majority of Muslim scholars agree that a woman is not obliged to wear the face veil.

Scholars believe it is up to women to decide whether to take on the veil or burqa, a loose outfit covering the whole body from head to toe and wore by some Muslim women.