Defendant government misses submission deadline in burqa ban challenge

The French government appears to have missed a deadline to file a response to a case challenging its 2011 law banning the wearing of face-covering garments in public.

The case, which is pending before the European Court of Human Rights, was brought by a Muslim woman on the day the new law came into force last year.

The woman, a 22-year-old French national resident in France and known only as SAS, is represented by Birmingham-based solicitor Sanjeev Sharma.

The Strasbourg court issued an official ‘statement of facts’ to the parties, including the French government, on 1 February this year with a request to respond within 16 weeks.

The deadline expired more than a week ago today, 30 May, without the court appearing to have received a response, but the case is still live.
Deadlines for the exchange of observations may be moved at the request of parties but Solicitors Journal understands that no such approach was made in this case.

A spokesperson for the Strasbourg court said no hearing date had been scheduled, before adding that more than 90 per cent of cases were dealt with under the written procedure and didn’t involve an oral hearing.

Meantime, civil rights organisation Liberty has intervened in the case, saying it had “major potential repercussions for freedom of religion and freedom of expression – not just in France but here in the UK and across Europe”.

“Wearing the full veil may be considered demeaning by some but for some women it’s a precious symbol of their faith,” said Liberty legal officer Corinna Ferguson.

She went on: “Such controversy is hardly resolved by imprisoning at home those women who feel compelled to wear the burqa or niqab. This blanket, discriminatory ban only serves to fuel the flames of Islamophobia spreading across Europe.”

Law 2010-1192, which came into force on 11 April 2011, makes it a criminal offence to wear face coverings in public, such as streets, public buildings and buildings open to the public, including shops or restaurants. Offenders may be given an on-the-spot fine of €150 and be ordered on a citizenship course.

The law also specifically criminalises behaviour forcing women to cover their faces, such as “threat, violence, pressure, abuse of authority or power” and makes it an offence punishable by one year in prison and a €30,000 fine.

The implementing ministerial order provides a non-exhaustive list of face coverings likely to fall within scope, which includes balaclavas, veils covering the whole face (burqa, niqab), face masks or any other accessory the wearing of which has the effect of concealing the individual’s face and make it impossible to identify them.

The law provides for a limited number of exceptions on health or professional grounds, for the practice of sport or as part of artistic or cultural events.

The applicant has lodged a direct complaint to the court, a procedure which is an exception to the standard requirement that all domestic remedies should be exhausted before the case can be referred to Strasbourg.

A report prepared for the French parliament in 2010 found that the wearing of face coverings as a common practice in France only dated back to 2000 and that about 1,900 women did so.