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January 8, 2006
France: Muslim Father Imprisoned Daughters To "Teach Them Islam"
Yesterday's Telegraph reported that a Moroccan man living in southern France was sentenced on Friday (6 Jan) to a 10 month suspended prison sentence. He was also stripped of his parental rights. He had kept his four daughters prisoner in a small flat, and was found guilty of breaking the laws demanding universal compulsory education for children aged six and above. One girl was aged four, but the others were ten, thirteen and fourteen.
The man, aged 45 and not identified to protect the identity of his daughters, lived in Romans-sur-Isere in the region of the Drome, north of Avignon, between Dauphine and Provence. He said he did not allow them to go to school because they would have had to remove the Islamic headscarf, or hijab.
The man, who does not work and claims state unemployment benefit, stated that he was the "only person to give them a decent education".
The girls were forbidden to play with toys and were prevented from watching television. Their only reading matter was the Koran, and they were only allowed to do crochet and clean. Despite all being born in France, the girls cannot speak a word of French.
The girls rarely left the apartment in the sleazy estate of La Monnaie, and usually got no further than the lobby. On a rare occasion when the eldest girl ventured outside, she met a social worker who gave her the telephone number of an abuse hotline. She called the number, which led to the court hearing.
The children now live at a new home, and their mother, who was not charged, is allowed to visit them.
La Monnaie, despite its poverty, means "Money", an ironic title indeed. We reported that on November 15 during the French riots, a church was set alight and severely damaged, and a stolen car was driven into the metal-shuttered offices of the police commissariat in La Monnaie.
Keywords: Hijab, Hidjab, Burka, Burqa
Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at January 8, 2006 7:43 PM
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