Beating the burqa ban
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As France moves closer towards a full ban on the burqa, one wealthy couple - furious at what they see as an attack on everyone's constitutional freedoms - are pledging €1 million of their own money to pay off fines handed to women who wear the full-face veil.
After the French parliament approved the ban earlier this month, French Muslim businessman Rashid Nekkaz and his wife Cecile Le Roux set up a campaign group called Hands Off My Constitution and pledged to sell off property worth €1 million to create the fund.
If the Senate passes the bill in September, then by next year the 400 to 2,000 women who wear the full burqa in France will run the risk of a €150 fine every time they step outside.
The proposal has incensed Nekkaz and Le Roux - not because they are hardline Muslims who believe women should wear the burqa, but because they feel it is an unconstitutional attack on basic freedoms.
Le Roux explains: "In places where identification is necessary we agree that the women needs to identify herself. However, we believe that the street is sacred and you don't dictate how a woman should dress when she is in the street."
Their idea to effectively "neutralise" the ban by allowing the 400-2,000 women who wear the full burqa in France to continue doing so, safe in the knowledge that the fund will pick up all their fines.
As the project becomes more well-known, people are coming forward with donations allowing the fund to think about expanding its horizons. Nekkaz and Le Roux are now looking north to Belgium and considering of extending their offer to help women there who are subject to €25 for wearing the burqa.
