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November 23, 2008 2:57:40 AM CST

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'Radical' Muslim Woman Can't be French Citizen

Posted Jul 12, 08 12:00 PM CDT in Crime & Courts,  World 

(Newser) – France has rejected a Muslim woman’s application for citizenship because her “radical practice of her religion” doesn’t fit French values, especially in terms of gender equality, the Guardian reports. Faiza M., who wears a burqa, speaks French and lives in Paris with a French national husband and three children born in the country, but was denied citizenship by France’s top administrators after officials called her “insufficiently assimilated.”

Social services noted Faiza’s “total submission to her male relatives.” In her appeal, she argued that France’s constitution supports religious freedom. The case has sparked controversy in the country.  “If you follow that to its logical conclusion, it means that women whose partners beat them are also not worthy of being French,” said a law professor. And Le Monde asked, “Is the burqa incompatible with French citizenship?” 

Source Guardian (UK)

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A woman clad in a burqa in Islamabad, Pakistan.   (AP Photo/B.K.Bangash)
Pakistani students wear burqas.   (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)
Burqa-clad students at a rally in Pakistan, Friday, April 4, 2008.   (AP Photo/B.K.Bangash)
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