Monday, May 4, 2015

Congo: Full face veil banned


From Reuters:

Congo Republic bans full-face veil for security reasons

BRAZZAVILLE
May 2, 2015


(Reuters) - Authorities in Congo Republic will impose a ban on wearing the full-face Islamic veil in public in order to tackle a security threat from people using it to conceal their identity, the head of the Congo's Islamic Council said on Saturday.
[...]
Islamic Council head Djibril Abdoulaye Bopaka said Congo's Islamic community, which he estimated at some 800,000 people, was in agreement with the measure after what he said were reports of individuals using this kind of veil to carry out illegal acts.

"The government took this step based on what was happening in the neighboring countries and the rest of the world," Bopaka said. "We regard this as a legitimate step for the security of the country."

"Together with authorities, we recognized that there were non-Muslims and badly intentioned people making use of the veil to carry out unauthorized acts," he told Radio France International....

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