"Any form of discrimination against Muslims' religious freedom has the effect of stigmatizing them," said Livingstone

By Ahmad Maher, IOL Staff

CAIRO, February 8 (IslamOnline.net) -  London Mayor, Ken Livingstone, will defend Muslim women’s rights to wear hijab at a press conference Tuesday, February 10, at the Greater London Authority, sending a "good signal" for the rest of European countries, one of the organizer said Sunday, February 8.

Organized jointly by the Muslim Association of Britain (MAB) and Muslim Women Society (MWS), the Livingstone-hosted conference will go concurrently with the French parliament vote on a law banning hijab in state-run schools.

"Livingstone is going to condemn the [mooted] law in his capacity as a Labour Party member and the mayor of London," MAB’s Head of Media Ihtisham Hibatullah told IslamOnline.net over the phone from London.

He cited the mayor’s letter to French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin, urging him "to reconsider restricting fundamental religious freedoms in France through the proposed legislation".

He underlined that "any form of discrimination against Muslims' religious freedom has the effect of stigmatizing them."

Raffarin opened a debate on the ban law in the National Assembly – the lower house of the French parliament, on Tuesday, February 3.

Praising Livingstone as "an advocate of the Palestinian cause and a frequent critic" of the British involvement in the U.S.-led war on Iraq, Hibatullah said the mayor will reaffirm that "hijab and secularism can surely co-exist".

Livingstone will join speakers from MAB and MWS, as well as representatives of a number of faith communities as well as human rights and legal organizations, said the MAB activist.

He added that the conference will outline the dangers of adopting such laws, and how they will play into the hands of the far-right, extremists and xenophobes throughout Europe.

Also highlighted will be the way these laws breach the fundamentals of human rights and personal freedoms.

Hibatullah asserted that British Muslims have spearheaded an international pro-hijab campaign, recalling that MAB and MWS had called for January 17 to be an international day of protest against the French discriminatory move.

Sea of demonstrators gathered outside French Embassies and diplomatic missions in Britain and around the world to mark the day and protest the French plans.

Despite divisions  among French lawmakers and angry reactions from the around 6-million-strong Muslim community, the bill is likely to be endorsed, especially after a deal between the ruling Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) and the opposition Socialists (PS).

Socialist deputies promised to back the bill after the UMP accepted two amendments: one allowing for a period of mediation before a pupil is punished for wearing the hijab, and the other setting in place a mandatory review of the law after one year.