Father arrested for death threats after French school sends daughter home for wearing banned abaya

A woman protesting the abaya ban earlier this week Photo: Remon Haazen/Getty Images Europe

The father of a converted girl outside the French public school for wearing a banned abaya, was arrested for allegedly making death threats to its principal.

President Emmanuel Macron's administration announced last month it was banning the abaya, a long tunic that covers the entire body. , in schools, arguing that it violates the rules of secularism in education.

‌The same legislation already prohibits the wearing of Muslim headscarves on the grounds that they constitute a demonstration of “prominent” religious affiliation.

The father, who has not been named, was detained for questioning in Clermont. Ferrand, central France, on suspicion of “threats with the intent to intimidate a person entrusted with a public mission,” said local prosecutor Dominique Puchmaille.

A man allegedly made death threats over the phone after his daughter was prevented from going to secondary school on Thursday — one of several dozen pupils in France who refused to take off their clothes as they returned to school this week after the summer holidays. /p>

The prosecutor said the man would receive a «direct summons» and be placed under «judicial control.»

Gabriel Attal, France's education minister, said Monday that the ban had generally gone smoothly. He said that among the 300 girls who showed up wearing abayas, about 67 were sent home for refusing to remove their clothes out of a total of 12 million students.

“This is not discrimination.”

President Macron arrived. for criticism this week from Muslim and left-wing opponents for saying the abaya ban was a consequence of the horrific murder of teacher Samuel Paty by an Islamist terrorist outside his school in 2020.

Mr Macron said that the dress was used by Islamists to challenge the French system and its exclusion of religion from government activities.

On Thursday, the Conseil d'Etat, France's highest court for government complaints, rejected the association's request for an injunction against the ban and said it did not discriminate against Muslims.

Security services this week warned After schools began enforcing the abaya ban, the government sharply increased anti-French rhetoric internationally on social media and in the press, mostly emanating from Turkey.

According to Home Office intelligence, much of the Statement accusing the French state of “oppressing Muslims” appeared to come from the International Organization for the Support of the Prophet of Islam, an Istanbul-based group closely linked to the radical Muslim Brotherhood.

They included false information. claim that 12 percent of women in France have been raped, according to a report seen by Le Parisien newspaper.

‌Violent attacks on France's «state Islamophobia» are also coming from Turkish English-language television. TRT Mir channel.