European rights court puts France burqa ban in spotlight

STRASBOURG: The European Court of Human Rights on Wednesday (Thursday in Manila) began an examination of France’s prohibition on the wearing of full-face veils, the so-called burqa ban that is seen by critics as a breach of religious freedom.

By coincidence, the Strasbourg-based court began studying the contentious issue on the same day that an appeal court in Paris upheld the right of a nursery to fire a female employee who insisted on wearing an Islamic headscarf at work.