Rick Dean
Registered
http://www.ttc.org/pa40102a.htm 
IRAN FAITHFUL SHOUT "DEATH TO FRANCE" OVER PROPOSED HEADSCARF BAN
TEHRAN, Jan 2 (AFP) - Thousands of Muslim worshippers shouted "death to France" during weekly prayers here Friday in response to a sermon denouncing a a proposal to prohibit Muslim schoolgirls in France from wearing headscarves.
Ayatollah Ahmad Janati called on Islamic countries to "threaten France with cancelling contracts and t
reconsider their relations with France" over the issue.
After months of heated debate, a committee of French experts recommended in December banning "conspicuous" religious insignia f
rom
state schools, which are secular.
This would include the hijab, or headscarf; the Jewish kippa, or skullcap, and large crucifixes.
In a subsequent speech, French President Jacques Chirac came out in favor of the ban, which he wants written into law
by the start of the next academic year.
But Janati assured worshippers that all that was necessary was "a roar from Muslims, and the French would back off." He called on the French authorities to "let Muslim women express their freedom and carry out their religious obligations."
His comments were welcomed by shouts of "death to France."
Ever since Chirac spoke on December 17, Arab and Muslim countries have been voicing outrage, even if a few intellectuals dispute claims that Muslim women are
bound by duty to wear the headscarf.
Numerous Iranian officials, including reformist President Mohammad Khatami and nearly 200 members of parliament, have already called on the French authorities
to reject
the ban.
"I hope the French government, which claims to be avant-garde in liberty, equality and fraternity, will cancel this wrong decision," Khatami said last week.
He said the "hijab is a religious necessity and its restriction is a sign of a kind of extreme nationalistic tenden
cy."
On Monday, around 150 conservative students, including women wearing the head-to-foot chador, demonstrated in front of the French embassy in Tehran shouting "death to France" and "death to Chirac the Zionist."
IRAN FAITHFUL SHOUT "DEATH TO FRANCE" OVER PROPOSED HEADSCARF BAN
TEHRAN, Jan 2 (AFP) - Thousands of Muslim worshippers shouted "death to France" during weekly prayers here Friday in response to a sermon denouncing a a proposal to prohibit Muslim schoolgirls in France from wearing headscarves.
Ayatollah Ahmad Janati called on Islamic countries to "threaten France with cancelling contracts and t
reconsider their relations with France" over the issue.
After months of heated debate, a committee of French experts recommended in December banning "conspicuous" religious insignia f
rom
state schools, which are secular.
This would include the hijab, or headscarf; the Jewish kippa, or skullcap, and large crucifixes.
In a subsequent speech, French President Jacques Chirac came out in favor of the ban, which he wants written into law
by the start of the next academic year.
But Janati assured worshippers that all that was necessary was "a roar from Muslims, and the French would back off." He called on the French authorities to "let Muslim women express their freedom and carry out their religious obligations."
His comments were welcomed by shouts of "death to France."
Ever since Chirac spoke on December 17, Arab and Muslim countries have been voicing outrage, even if a few intellectuals dispute claims that Muslim women are
bound by duty to wear the headscarf.
Numerous Iranian officials, including reformist President Mohammad Khatami and nearly 200 members of parliament, have already called on the French authorities
to reject
the ban.
"I hope the French government, which claims to be avant-garde in liberty, equality and fraternity, will cancel this wrong decision," Khatami said last week.
He said the "hijab is a religious necessity and its restriction is a sign of a kind of extreme nationalistic tenden
cy."
On Monday, around 150 conservative students, including women wearing the head-to-foot chador, demonstrated in front of the French embassy in Tehran shouting "death to France" and "death to Chirac the Zionist."