Tunisia’s premier on Friday banned the niqab Muslim face
covering for women in government offices, citing security concerns
after attacks in the North African country.
Prime Minister Youssef Chahed signed a government circular
“banning access to public administrations and institutions to
anyone with their face covered… for security reasons,” his office
said.
The ban on the niqab, which covers the entire face apart from
the eyes, comes at a time of heightened security following a June
27 double suicide bombing in Tunis that left two dead and seven
wounded.
The interior minister instructed police in February 2014 to step
up supervision of the wearing of the niqab as part of
anti-terrorism measures, to prevent its use as a disguise or to
escape justice.
Reactions to the ban were mixed in the Tunisian capital.
“They have the right to prohibit (the niqab) given the events we
are currently witnessing,” said Ilhem, a young Tunisian woman.
“But in the end, it remains an individual freedom,” she
added.
Lina questioned “why the woman must make sacrifices every time
there are security measures to be taken”.
The Tunisian League for the Defence of Human Rights urged that
the measure be only temporary.
“We are for the freedom to dress (as one pleases), but today
with the current situation and the terrorist threats in Tunisia and
across the region we find justifications for this decision,” the
league’s president Jamel Msallem told AFP.
He said that the ban should be repealed as soon as “a normal
security situation returns in Tunisia”.
The niqab and other outward shows of Islamic devotion were not
tolerated under the regime of longtime autocrat Zine El Abidine Ben
Ali but have made a comeback since he was toppled in Tunisia’s 2011
revolution.
After bloody attacks in 2015 that targeted security forces and
tourists, there were calls in Tunisia to re-impose the ban.
(AFP)
Subscribe ToNairalaw News!
Read more tunisia-bans-niqab-in-govt-offices-cites-security-reasons/