3 Veiled Women Barred From Entering France

Three Saudi women who refused to removed their face veils when they arrived at Charles de Gaulle airport were barred entry into France and sent back home. Border police asked the women to lift their niqabs so they could ascertain their identity when they arrived from Doha, Qatar, reports Al Arabiya. When they refused, they were cited, fined, and put on a flight that same night to Doha, officials said yesterday.

A French law passed last year prohibits wearing face-covering veils in public. France was the first European nation to pass such a ban, but Belgium and Holland have since enacted similar measures. Supporters of the ban say it's necessary for security, and a blow for women's rights and secularism, while opponents call it discriminatory, notes AP. (More French veil ban stories.)