Three Saudi women who refused to remove their face veils at Paris’ Charles de Gaulle airport have been barred entry to France, according to a French police union.
A 2011 French law bans people from wearing Islamic head coverings anywhere in public – including the niqab and the burqa.
An official with the SGP-FO police union said border police asked the women to remove their veils after they arrived on a flight from Doha, Qatar, reports the Daily Mail.
The official says the women refused, border police refused them entry in France, and they returned to Doha last night.
Supporters of the ban say the veil contradicts France’s principles of secularism and women’s rights but some Muslim groups say it stigmatises moderate Muslims.
When introduced, former French president Nicolas Sarkozy said the ban was aimed at stopping criminals – from terrorists to shoplifters – disguising their faces from security staff and CCTV.
