Paris - A 32-year-old Moroccan woman married to a Frenchman has
been denied French citizenship because of her religious practices, such
as wearing a burqa, the daily Le Monde reported Friday on its online
edition.

According to the report, the June 27 decision by the Council of
State, the French supreme court for administrative justice, was the
first-ever to pronounce itself on the ability of a foreigner to be
assimilated in French society because of his or her religious
practices.

Previously, only individuals judged to have been members of
fundamentalist movements or having made public statements in favour of
Islamic radicalism had been denied French citizenship.

The council said it refused citizenship to the woman, who has three
children born in France, because she had "adopted, in the name of a
radical practice of her religion, social behaviour that is incompatible
with the basic values of French society, particularly the equality of
the sexes."

The decision was made after the woman, identified as Faiza M., went
before the council to annul a 2005 decree denying her request for
citizenship because of "a lack of assimilation."

Faiza M., who has lived in France since 2000, invoked the principle
of freedom of religion and told the council that she had "never looked
to challenge the fundamental values of the Republic."

However, the government commissioner charged with giving a legal
opinion on the case, Emmanuelle Prada-Bordenave, said that for three
meetings with French police authorities Faiza M. "was dressed in... a
long robe that fell to her feet, a headscarf hiding her hair, forehead
and chin, a veil concealing her face and leaving only a slit for the
eyes."

The report went on to say that Faiza M. had admitted to police that
she lived a very reclusive life in France and was removed from French
society.

"She has no idea of secularism or the right to vote," the
commissioner reported. "She lives in total submission to the men of her
family." (dpa)