France’s highest administrative court have suspended the ban on full-body “burkini” swimsuits that was imposed in the town of Villeneuve-Loubet.
Three judges at the French State Council (Conseil d’Etats) examined an appeal to overturn the prohibitions by the Human Rights League (LDH) and Collective Against Islamophobia in France (CCIF).
In a statement issued by a French aid, the Conseil d’Etats said the burkini ban “seriously, and clearly illegally, breached the fundamental freedoms to come and go, the freedom of beliefs and individual freedom.”
The ruling is expected to set a precedent for up to 30 other French towns that have banned the swimsuit that is worn by a percentage of Muslim women.
The court has said a final decision on the nationwide legality of the bans will come later in the year.
A lawyer outside court said that people who had been fined for wearing the swimming item could claim their money back.
Under the French legal system, temporary decisions can be handed down by the Conseil d’Etat before the court takes more time to prepare a judgement on the underlying legality of the case.
France has turned the laudable ideal of secularism into an institutionalised programme of intolerance. https://t.co/pdUrynATUw
— Stig Abell (@StigAbell) August 24, 2016
The burkini ban ignited fierce debates in France this week after images emerged of a woman on a beach in Nice being force to remove the clothing by armed police.
A number of human rights groups have called the ban a “collective punishment” of Muslims following recent terror attacks, while terror analysts have said rules such as the burkini ban only fuel jihadist propaganda, staying removing freedoms only help their efforts to portray the West as “at war” with Islam.
Manuel Valls, the French Prime Minister, said he was not in favour of nationwide legislation but appeared to support the law in principle by claiming the burkini was “based on the enslavement of women.”
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