The law needs to be amended to address the anomaly of women wearing burqas in public, according to shadow justice minister Jason Azzopardi.

Dr Azzopardi’s post.

In a personal comment on Facebook yesterday, Dr Azzopardi said he saw a woman wearing a burqa driving in Paola and pointed out the law needs to be amended.

His post proved to be one of the most popular on his wall, receiving overwhelming support and comments, with many saying the burqa – a long, loose garment covering the whole body from head to foot, worn by Muslim women – should be banned.

Dr Azzopardi’s post was also supported by the Opposition’s spokesman on citizen’s rights and equality, Clyde Puli.

Speaking to the Times of Malta, Dr Azzopardi made it clear he was speaking in his personal capacity and the point he was making was based on a legal argument. He called for a rational debate on the issue, free from prejudice, but the inconsistency in the law needed to be addressed, he insisted.

A legal ban would be just as much a rights violation

The Criminal Code states it is a contravention if anyone “in any public place wears a mask, or disguises himself, except at the time and in the manner allowed by law”. This is punishable by up to two months’ detention.

“So if the law clearly stresses identification, for obvious reasons, is wearing the burqa prohibited or not?” Dr Azzopardi asked.

He stressed that it was illegal for someone to enter a bank wearing a helmet. This law followed a spate of robberies in the 1970s carried out by men wearing such head protection. It is also illegal for car windows to be tinted.

“The reason is very clear. Lack of visibility increases the risk of the commission of a crime and makes police investigations more difficult,” Dr Azzopardi argued, adding that crimes are perpetrated abroad by men and women in burqas.

His argument focused on three main points: legal consistency, security issues and social cohesion. He referred to France, which, in 2010, decided to ban the burqa. The decision was upheld by the European Court of Human Rights, which ruled that the law on religious headgear did not breach Muslim women’s rights.

Mr Puli, on Facebook, made the point that “the problem of burqas was not one of religious tolerance but, rather, of women’s dignity and freedom”, an argument often raised in discussions on a ban.

Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy called it “a sign of subservience”. The Spanish Senate also gave its approval to an anti-burqa motion supporting the outlawing of “any usage, custom or discriminatory practice that limits the freedom of women”.

For many men and women, the burqa is a powerful symbol of the oppression and subjugation of Muslim women. Yet human rights organisations argue that those who want to help address this should start not by telling Muslim women what to wear but by tackling the root causes of such oppression: discrimination, lack of access to services and unequal economic opportunities.

There is no doubt many Muslim women are forced to wear the burqa or other forms of veil but, equally, there is little doubt that many other Muslim women have made a free and informed decision to wear them in line with their religious beliefs.

Human Rights Watch argues against a ban: “A legal ban in Europe on the wearing of the burqa in public life would be just as much a violation of the rights of those women who wish to wear it as is the forcing of the veil on those women who do not wish to wear it in, for example, Iran or Saudi Arabia”.

The international human rights organisation says it will only force the women who wear it, whether by choice or under coercion, to drop out of sight.