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Top French Court Upholds Hijab Ban In Women’s Football

Published

2 years ago

June 29, 2023

Editor

France’s top administrative court on Thursday upheld a ban on women football players wearing Islamic hijab headscarves, after the issue was seized on by politicians claiming secularism was at risk.

“Sporting federations whose task is to ensure the good functioning of public services… can impose a neutrality requirement on their players in competitions and sporting events, to guarantee the smooth running of matches and any clashes or confrontation,” the Constitutional Council said in a statement.

It found a French Football Federation (FFF) rule against “any sign or clothing clearly showing political, philosophical, religious or union affiliation” during play to be “appropriate and proportionate”.

A group of Muslim women footballers called the “Hijabeuses” had launched the action against the FFF regulation.

The FFF said simply that it had “taken note” of the ruling, adding that the sporting body “reaffirms the republican and civic values that bring football to life, and its total commitment to fighting all forms of discrimination and promoting female-male equality”.

Marion Ogier, a lawyer for the “Hijabeuses”, said the decision “upsets secularism and freedom of expression” as well as “abusing 30 years of legal precedent” on the question.

“This decision goes against social cohesion in a country founded on diversity and pluralism,” she told AFP.

Judges had found themselves under political pressure ahead of the ruling as mainstream parties look to fend off the far right riding high in the polls.

Secularism is a sensitive topic in France, presented by its defenders as a way of guaranteeing the state’s religious neutrality and by critics as a dog-whistle against ethnic and religious minorities, especially Muslims.

– ‘Don’t need to know religion’ –
A Monday boost for the “Hijabeuses”, when the state’s legal advisor concluded the rule was unjustified, prompted a wave of political condemnation.

Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin, a law-and-order hardliner, said Tuesday, “I hope profoundly for the republic that (judges) uphold neutrality on sports fields.”

The “Hijabeuses” were hoping to give the republic a “battering”, Darmanin added.

“You shouldn’t wear religious clothing when you play sports… when you play football, you don’t need to know the religion of the person in front of you,” he said.

Other voices from the conservative Republicans party and far-right National Rally have also chimed in.

Far-right leader Marine Le Pen wrote on Twitter: “No to the hijab in sport. And we will pass a law to make sure it is respected.”

Republicans chief Eric Ciotti said his party — which holds just 62 seats in France’s 577-seat parliament — would introduce a bill on the topic if the court allowed the hijab.

Sports Minister Amelie Oudea-Castera has also suggested Macron’s government could legislate, saying “we aren’t ruling anything out” and “we can see that there’s a need for clarification”.

The Constitutional Council itself shot back Wednesday at what it said were “attacks aimed at the administrative branch and especially the legal advisor”.

Questioning the workings of the courts was “an attack on an institution that is essential for democracy,” the body added, saying it could take legal action in cases of “insult, defamation, incitement to hatred or threats”.
VANGUARD

Headline

Afghanistan-Pakistan Border Clashes Escalate After Alleged Air Strikes

Published

1 day ago

October 11, 2025

Editor

Afghanistan’s Taliban forces launched armed reprisals against Pakistani soldiers along the shared border on Saturday, accusing Islamabad of carrying out air strikes on its soil, senior officials from several provinces said Saturday.

On Thursday, two explosions were heard in the Afghan capital and another in the southeast of the country. The following day, the Taliban-run defence ministry blamed the attacks on Pakistan, accusing its neighbor of violating its sovereignty.

“In retaliation for air strikes carried out by the Pakistani army on Kabul,” Taliban forces are engaged “in heavy clashes against Pakistani security forces in various areas” along the border, the Afghan military said in a statement.

Islamabad did not confirm that it was behind Thursday’s attacks, but called on Kabul “to stop harbouring the Pakistani Taliban (TTP) on its soil.”

The TTP, trained in combat in Afghanistan and claiming to share the same ideology as the Afghan Taliban, is accused by Islamabad of having killed hundreds of its soldiers since 2021.

Taliban officials from Kunar, Nangarhar, Paktia, Khost, and Helmand provinces — all located on the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan — confirmed that clashes were ongoing.

“This evening, Taliban forces began using weapons. We fired first light and then heavy artillery at four points along the border,” a senior official in Pakistan’s Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, bordering Afghanistan, told AFP.

“Pakistani forces responded with heavy fire and shot down three Afghan quadcopters suspected of carrying explosives. Intense fighting continues, but so far, no casualties have been reported,” he continued.

– Uptick in violence –

In recent months, TTP militants have intensified their campaign of violence against Pakistani security forces in the mountainous areas bordering Afghanistan.

Islamabad accuses Afghanistan of failing to expel militants who use Afghan territory to launch attacks on Pakistan, an accusation denied by authorities in Kabul.

The TTP and its affiliates are behind most of the violence — largely directed at security forces.

Earlier this year, a UN report said the TTP “receive substantial logistical and operational support from the de facto authorities”, referring to the Taliban government in Kabul.

Pakistani Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif told parliament on Thursday that several efforts to convince the Afghan Taliban to stop backing the TTP had failed.

“We will not tolerate this any longer,” Asif said. “United, we must respond to those facilitating them, whether the hideouts are on our soil or Afghan soil.”

Earlier Saturday, the TTP claimed responsibility for deadly attacks in several districts in northwest Pakistan that killed 20 security officials and three civilians.

AFP

Headline

Taliban Attacks Kill 23 In Northwestern Pakistan

Published

1 day ago

October 11, 2025

Editor

The Pakistani Taliban on Saturday claimed responsibility for deadly attacks in several northwestern districts that killed 20 security officials and three civilians.

The attacks, which included a suicide bombing on a police training school, were carried out on Friday in several districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province that borders Afghanistan.

Militancy has surged in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa since the withdrawal of US-led troops from neighbouring Afghanistan in 2021 and the return of the Taliban government in Kabul.

Eleven paramilitary troops were killed in the border Khyber district, while seven policemen were killed after a suicide bomber rammed an explosives-laden car into the gate of a police training school, which was followed by a gun attack.

Five people, including three civilians, were killed in a separate clash in Bajaur district, security officials told AFP on Saturday.

The Pakistani Taliban, the Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP), claimed responsibility for the attacks in messages on social media. The group is separate from but closely linked with the Afghan Taliban.

The attacks came hours after Afghanistan’s Taliban government accused Pakistan of “violating Kabul’s sovereign territory”, a day after two explosions were heard in the capital.

Pakistan did not say if it was behind the blasts in Kabul, but said it had the right to defend itself against surging border militancy.

Islamabad accuses Afghanistan of failing to expel militants using Afghan territory to launch attacks on Pakistan, an accusation that authorities in Kabul deny.

The TTP and its affiliates are behind most of the violence — largely directed at security forces.

Including Friday’s attacks, at least 32 Pakistani troops and three civilians have been killed this week alone in the border regions.

AFP

Headline

US Threatens To Sanction Countries That Vote For Shipping Carbon Tax

Published

1 day ago

October 11, 2025

Editor

The United States on Friday threatened to impose sanctions and take other punitive action against any country that votes in favor of a carbon tax on maritime transportation to be implemented through a UN agency.

“We will fight hard to protect our economic interests by imposing costs on countries if they support” the Net Zero Framework, said a joint statement by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and his counterparts at the departments of energy and transportation.

Members of the London-based International Maritime Organization (IMO) are set to vote next week on the adoption of the Net Zero Framework (NZF) agreement aimed at reducing global carbon emissions from the shipping sector.

Washington, however, described the proposal as imposing “a global carbon tax on the world.”

Since returning to power in January, US President Donald Trump has reversed Washington’s course on climate change, denouncing it as a “scam” and encouraging fossil fuel use by deregulation.

In the statement, Rubio, Energy Secretary Chris Wright and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the Trump administration “unequivocally rejects” the NZF proposal.

They threatened a range of punishing actions against countries that vote in favor of the framework, including: visa restrictions; blocking vessels registered in those countries from US ports; imposing commercial penalties; and considering sanctions on officials.

“The United States will be moving to levy these remedies against nations that sponsor this European-led neocolonial export of global climate regulations,” the statement said.