Banning the full Islamic veil would not liberate oppressed women, a European rights chief said yesterday, and could lead to them becoming even more alienated in society.

Thomas Hammarberg, the Council of Europe's human rights commissioner, said banning the burqa and niqab would be an unreasonable invasion of personal privacy.

Supporters of a ban have not shown that women who wear the veil are more oppressed than others, Mr Hammarberg said, nor that the veil undermines democracy or public morals.

"Prohibition of the burqa and the niqab would not liberate oppressed women, but might instead lead to their further alienation in European societies," he said.

"A general ban on such attires would constitute an ill-advised invasion of individual privacy."

Depending on its terms, he said, a ban might also breach the European Convention on Human Rights.

Several European countries have been considering banning the veil, including Austria, Denmark and the Netherlands.

In January a French parliamentary report called for a ban on the burqa and niqab, saying Muslim women who fully cover their heads and faces posed an "unacceptable" challenge to French values.

Mr Hammarberg said that the small number of women who wear the veil - around 1,900 in France, which is home to Europe's largest Muslim community - made the idea that it undermines democracy, public safety or morals unconvincing.