Muslim faces fine of up to £8,000 for wearing Islamic head garment in Switzerland
Huge penalty thought to be first case since enactment of popular ban
A MUSLIM woman faces being fined £8,000 for wearing a Burka in a region of Switzerland that last week banned them from being worn in public.
Nora Illi staged a protest against the new law in the town of Locarno while wearing a full-length headdress.
Another protester, Rachid Nekkaz, has been rapped with a £180 penalty (CHF230).
The French-Algerian businessman has funded pro-Burka campaigns across the world.
Locarno sits in the canton of Ticino, a mainly Catholic Italian-speaking region that on July 1 brought in a ban on face-covering headgear.
It was enacted after a 2013 referendum that saw 65% of people supporting a ban on burkas, according to .
The ban was passed through local government in November last year after the Swiss parliament found it didn’t breach existing laws.
Illi, a Muslim convert from Zurich and member of the Islamic Central Council of Switzerland, could be fined CHF10,000 for breaching the new law — which some local officials are calling to be enacted nationwide.
Giorgio Ghiringhelli, who drew up the proposed ban, said it was time to push back against “Islamic fundamentalists”.
He said in November: “Those who want to integrate are welcome, irrespective of their religion, but those who rebuff our values and aim to build a parallel society based on religious laws, and want to place it over our society, are not welcome”.
There are thought to be nearly half a million Muslims in Switzerland — over 6% of the population.
Those who want to integrate are welcome, irrespective of their religion, but those who rebuff our values and aim to build a parallel society based on religious laws, and want to place it over our society, are not welcome
Giorgio Ghiringhelli
The Swiss region isn’t the only area to consider or enact a ban on face coverings in public.
France and Belgium brought in full bans in 2011, while the Dutch government in May backed a partial ban on public transport and in schools and hospitals.
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