Giorgia Meloni has called for a burka and niqab ban in public places in Italy with fines of £2,600 to stop ‘Islamic separatism’.
The bill, presented to parliament by the Italian prime minister’s Brothers of Italy party on Wednesday, would see those wearing the garment in shops, offices, schools and universities fined between £260 and £2,600.
It will also introduce criminal penalties for ‘cultural crimes’ including virginity testing and increase punishments for forced marriages to up to 10 years in prison, with religious coercion grounds for prosecution.
The bill will combat ‘religious radicalisation and religiously motivated hate’, the party claims.
‘The spread of Islamic fundamentalism… undeniably constitutes the breeding ground for Islamist terrorism,’ an introduction to the draft legislation said.
The bill will also pile extra scrutiny on funding for mosques and Islamic education institutions by imposing transparency rules on the financing of organisations who have not reached formal agreements with the state.
No Muslim organisation has such an agreement and thus they will be forced to disclose all sources of funding.
Groups which pose threats to state security will be unable to provide funding.
Giorgia Meloni has called for a burka and niqab ban in public places in Italy with fines of £2,600 to stop ‘Islamic separatism’
The bill would see those wearing the garment in shops, offices, schools and universities fined between £260 and £2,600
Burkas, a full body garment, and niqbas, a veil for the face, are already restricted in parts of Italy.
Northern Lombardy banned anyone entering public buildings with face coverings in 2015.
Ms Meloni’s right-wing coalition government has a strong majority and the new bill, which will extend the ban nationwide, is likely to pass.
Galeazzo Bignami, parliamentary leader of the Brothers of Italy, said the proposal was intended to defend Italy from ‘all forms of extremism and any attempt to create parallel societies on Italian soil’.
Sara Kelany, a co-sponsor of the bill said the country could not tolerate the ‘creation of enclaves where sharia law prevails over Italian law’, but would promote ‘a model of society based on integration, legality and the defence of western values’.
Ms Meloni’s coalition partner the League, led by Matteo Salvini, earlier this year unveiled a more limited bill on face coverings. It is currently under review.Around 2million Muslims are estimated to live in Italy, with Muslim groups hitting out at the bill for alienating them rather than promoting religious harmony.
France became the first European country to introduce a nationwide ban on burkas in 2011.
Austria, Denmark, Belgium and the Netherlands have since followed suit and introduced some form of the ban.
The European Court of Human Rights has repeatedly upheld the bans, while Nigel Farage has previously branded the veils ‘anti-British’.
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