Italy's Right starts move towards ban on burkas

Italy is considering introducing a law which would make wearing a burka illegal.

MPs from the anti-immigration Northern League party, a member of prime minister Silvio Berlusconi's ruling Right-wing coalition, presented the proposal in a Bill.

It comes only weeks after France said it was considering making the wearing of burkas illegal - prompting al Qaeda terrorists to "vow revenge" if the garment was banned.

Italy has more than one million Muslims but it is rare to see women wearing the full burka although there have been cases, especially in northern cities such as Milan and Verona, where women wearing it have been asked to remove at least the face veil.

Last month centre-Right politician Daniela Santanche was involved in clashes with Muslims after she attended an end of Ramadan festival and urged women to remove their burkas.

The Northern League's proposal would amend a 1975 law, introduced amid concern over domestic terrorism, which bans anyone wearing anything which makes their identification impossible.

However, this law allows for "justified cause" which until now local courts have interpreted to include religious reasons against bans.

The League's Roberto Cota said: "We are not racist and we have nothing against Muslims but the law must be equal for everyone."

MP Barbara Saltamartini, of the People of Freedom, said: "Banning the burka cannot be considered anti-Muslim because it is not obligatory in Islam.

"The Imam of Al-Azhar university in Cairo, the highest authority in Sunni Islam, has just stated unequivocally that Muslim women have the right to their own identity and that the burka is not part of Muslim tradition."