Algeria passport veil ban protest

Algeria passport veil ban protest
Algerian woman and child in Chrea Algeria

Muslim Scholars in Algeria say a government ban on pictures of veiled women in passport photographs runs counter to Sharia law.

The Society of Algerian Muslim Scholars has denounced the ban which also applies to bearded men.

The organisation says the veil and beard are part of Muslim tradition which cannot be outlawed.

The society says it issued a fatwa against the ban after receiving hundreds of complaints.

Prime Minister Abdelazeez Belkhadem is reported to have received complaints from the public urging him to overturn the ban.

The BBC's Arab affairs analyst Magdi Abdelhardi says it is an example of a modern secular state coming under fire from a resurgent Islamism.

This confrontation took a sinister turn in Algeria back in the 1990s, when the Algerian army fought a bloody battle against Islamic militants leaving an estimated 100,000 people dead.

Our correspondent says the conflict between secular values and a new assertive Islamic identity has taken many shapes in Muslim as well as European societies where there is a vocal Islamic community.

He says the veil has figured prominently in fierce debates.

Most recently, Turkey was plunged into a constitutional crisis after the ruling party removed a ban on wearing the veil in universities.

The powerful secular establishment was outraged saying this was Islamisation by stealth and it took the matter to court hoping to outlaw the ruling party itself.