Burqa = Straitjacket (Quote of The Day)

I cannot agree with her more. When I see women in burqa, all I see is oppression. There is absolutely nothing there remotely reflecting the idea of choice for women, as some advocates of this ‘prison clothing’ argue.

Fadela Amara, French Urban Affairs Minister (Muslim of Algerian parentage):

"The burqa is a prison, it's a straitjacket," she told Le Parisien.

"It is not a religious insignia but the insignia of a totalitarian political project that advocates inequality between the sexes and which is totally devoid of democracy."

The minister said she hoped the court's ruling [Unzipped: Gay Armenia - to deny French citizenship to a Moroccan woman who wears the burqa] might in future "dissuade certain fanatics from imposing the burqa on their wives".

Ms Amara, who is also a prominent women's rights campaigner, said she made no distinction between the veil and the burqa, describing both as symbols of oppression for women.

"It's just a question of centimetres of fabric," she added.