Some left-wing politicians in France have expressed concern that the legislation could be seen as stigmatising Muslims
Clarion Web Desk
PARIS – French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday introduced what his government terms “radical Islamism”. His cabinet promptly approved the controversial measure that some critics fear will stigmatise the French Muslim community.
The text was originally titled the “anti-separatism” bill, a term Macron has used to refer to radical Islamists withdrawing from mainstream society. Following criticism of that term, it is now called a “draft law to strengthen republican values”, mostly secularism and freedom of expression.
Among notable measures is making school obligatory from age three with the ability to opt-out in favour of homeschooling for special cases only. The measure is aimed at ending so-called “clandestine” schools run by hardliners.
Another article encourages mosques to register as places of worship, so as to better identify them. Many of the nation’s more than 2,600 mosques currently operate under rules for associations. Foreign funding for mosques, while not forbidden, would have to be declared if more than 10,000 euros ($12,000).
The draft law would make it a crime punishable by fines and up to one year in prison for a doctor to provide a young woman with virginity certificates, sometimes demanded ahead of marriage.
French doctors and Muslim feminists are also against such certificates, but some have argued against an outright ban, saying it could harm women who could face violence without them.
To do away with forced marriages, a measure in the bill requires the couple to meet separately for an interview with an official when there is a doubt about free consent. If the doubt persists, the official must take the issue to a prosecutor who could forbid the marriage.
Those practising polygamy would be forbidden French residence cards.
Once, as is expected, the cabinet backs the draft law, it heads to parliament at the start of next year for what promises to be a heated debate.
France’s Conseil d’État, which advises the government and the National Assembly on future laws, has already signalled that some parts of the bill, especially on education, may clash with the principle of freedom of choice enshrined in the French constitution.
Defending the bill at a press conference on Wednesday, Prime Minister Jean Castex said the text does not target religious freedom but is aimed at “the nefarious ideology of radical Islamism”.
Castex described the proposed bill as “a law of freedom, of protection and emancipation in the face of religious fundamentalism.”
The law was in the pipeline before the murder in October of Samuel Paty, a junior high school teacher who was attacked in the street and beheaded after showing cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed in a civics class.
But the killing, committed by an 18-year-old Chechen after a virulent social media campaign against the teacher, gave new impetus to the bill. It prompted the inclusion of the specific crimes of online hate speech and divulging personal information on the internet.
Macron has become a target of fierce protests in some Muslim countries, amid calls for boycotts of French products, over his defence of the right to blaspheme and his claim that Islam is “in crisis around the world”.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called the proposed legislation an “open provocation”, while scholars at Egypt’s prestigious Sunni Islamic institution, Al-Azhar, called Macron’s views “racist”.
Demonstrations have been held in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Lebanon.
The US envoy on religious freedom, Sam Brownback, was also critical, saying: “When you get heavy-handed, the situation can get worse.”
In France itself, some left-wing politicians have expressed concern that the legislation could be seen as stigmatising Muslims.
Le Monde newspaper says it could also antagonise other religious groups who practise home-schooling.
-Compiled from Net sources
