PRESSURE is mounting for a ban on the burkha in Britain after Italy looked set to become the latest European country to outlaw it.
Italy’s right-wing Northern League political party, part of Silvio Berlusconi’s coalition, has put forward a parliamentary bill calling for the controversial veil to be banned in public.
It comes just weeks after France made the wearing of burkhas illegal on security grounds. A similar law is due to be brought into force in Belgium.
Supporters of the ban have called for Britain to stop “lagging behind” and get the “political guts” to banish the burkha from public areas. Tory MP Philip Hollobone, who has tabled a Private Members’ Bill proposing a ban, praised Italy for the move.
He said: “Well done France, and well done Italy. I, and the majority of people in Britain, don’t agree that anybody should be able to cover their face in public.
“But the politicians are just so frightened of offending minority groups. We just don’t have the political guts. The burkha stops women integrating in society. It is not a religious garment and is outlawed in several Islamic countries.”
Current Italian law makes it illegal to be seen in public wearing anything that prevents immediate identification unless there is a “justifiable reason”.
Italian police and lawmakers have so far allowed the burkha to slip through the net. But the anti-immigration Northern League’s proposal will seek to amend the law to specifically include the face veil among banned garments.
An Interior Ministry report in favour of the amendment said the law should make clear it was being outlawed not for “religious reasons but for security reasons”. When drawing up its report, the ministry took evidence from leading Muslims. One, Ejaz Ahmed, of the Italian Islam Committee, told officials that the face veils were not religious requirements.
