Top French court overturns controversial burkini ban

The Council of State's ruling relates specifically to the southeastern town of Villeneuve-Loubet, but the decision is expected to set a legal precedent for the approximately 30 seaside towns that have issued similar bans, the Associated Press reported.



The ban was imposed by the towns across France after a wave of terror attacks that have increased religious tensions.



The legal challenge was brought by human rights group who say the bans stigmatize France's Muslim minority and also encroach on women's civil liberties. Proponents of the bans argue that they help maintain France's strict secular traditions. They say burkinis are a symbol of Islam's repression of women.



"There could be no better recruiting sergeants for the Islamic State than the mayors who are enforcing the burkini bans on the beaches of the French Riviera. All right-thinking people the world over are outraged by such high-handed conduct," said Ebrahim Moosa, author of the book Islam and the Modern World.

"Muslims have been victims of terrorism and have valiantly helped to combat terrorism in Europe. This ban is nothing short of a thinly veiled expression of Islamophobia," said Moosa, an Islamic studies professor at the University of Notre Dame.

France has been embroiled in a debate over Islamic dress in public places for years. A permanent, national ban on wearing items of a conspicuous religious nature such as headscarves, veils and turbans in schools and government-run workplaces has been in effect since 2004. It was extended in 2011 to include the outlawing of wearing full-face veils such as the burqa and niqab in public places.



Islamophobia has been on the rise in Europe amid an influx of migrants from Islamic nations. A politician from the Netherlands on Friday published a manifesto that calls for the the the Muslim holy book the Quran to be banned and for mosques and Islamic schools to be closed. Geert Wilders' far-right Freedom Party also wants the Netherlands to leave the European Union. The party has been leading opinion polls for months ahead of parliamentary elections next year.


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