Driver fined for wearing veil

A woman driving while wearing an Islamic veil has been fined by French police for not having a clear field of vision.

Her lawyer Jean-Michel Pollono said traffic officers in Nantes fined her €25 earlier this month.

The fine was based on a rule that says drivers should have “freedom of movement and a sufficient field of vision.”

Mr Pollono said he is appealing the decision, saying a veil is “the same as a motorcycle helmet” in terms of hindrance to vision.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has ordered a law drafted that would ban veils that cover the face and body anywhere in public.

The woman driver, whose name has not been revealed, said: ``My field of vision was sufficient.''

She is French by nationality, and her lawyer said she has driven in France with her face veiled for the past nine years and never been stopped until now, after months of recent parliamentary discussion and government talk about possibly banning the veils.

When she was stopped, the traffic police asked her to raise her veil to confirm her identity, which she complied, Mr Pollono said.

“A French citizen cannot be fined based on the way he or she dresses,” he said. “If the veil is forbidden behind the wheel, then nuns should not be able to drive, and full helmets for motorcyclists should be banned, because you can’t see on the sides, and even some police units who drive with masks should be fined.”

Mr Sarkozy’s move angered Muslims in the Arab world and worried those in France, who fear they are being stigmatised because of a very small minority of women in France who cover their faces with niqabs or burkas.

A leading French conservative MP who has been at the forefront of the push against the veils, Jean-Francois Cope, has been given police protection.

In January, Mr Cope, head of the governing conservative party UMP in the lower house of parliament, submitted a proposed bill on banning the veil.