AhlulBayt News Agency (ABNA): Portugal’s parliament has approved a draft bill that would prohibit “face covering in public spaces,” explicitly targeting garments such as the niqab and burqa worn for religious or gender-related reasons.
Under the proposal, violators would face fines ranging from €200 to €4,000, while forcing a woman to cover her face could carry a prison sentence of up to three years. The ban would apply to public areas, including transportation, hospitals, schools, sporting events, and gatherings, with exceptions made for medical, climatic, and security-related circumstances.
The bill was introduced by the right-wing Chega party and gained support from the center-right ruling coalition, comprising the Social Democratic Party and the People’s Party. In a controversial remark, Chega leader André Ventura stated that “those who wish to wear the burqa should leave the country.” The draft has now been referred to parliament’s Constitutional Affairs Committee for further examination and will become law if ultimately approved and signed by President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, whose official stance remains unclear.
If enacted, Portugal would join the list of European countries, including France, Belgium, Denmark, Bulgaria, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and Austria, that have already fully or partially banned full-face coverings in public. In recent years, such bans have increasingly been justified across Europe under the pretexts of secularism and “public security.”
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