The ban on the use of burqas in public spaces may violate the Portuguese Constitution. The bill was approved, in general, with the votes of the parliamentary right. SIC heard from a Portuguese Muslim woman, founder of the project Alma Portuguesa Fé Islâmica, who regrets the attention given by politicians to an issue that, in Portugal, concerns such a small number of women.
Zohra Lodhia, 31 years old, is the daughter of parents who lived in Mozambique before the country’s independence. Born in Lisbon, married, with two children, she is co-founder of the Alma Portuguesa Fé Islâmica project and is about to finish her PhD in Biology at the Faculty of Sciences. Zohra Lodhia is Muslim.
She says she has never been looked at differently for wearing the hijab, a scarf that covers the hair and neck, and which is not covered by the bill, as is the chador, which covers the entire body. What Chega and the parliamentary right want is for the use, in public spaces, of clothing that covers the face, such as the Niqab and the burqa, to be prohibited.
This Sunday, on the constitutionality of the bill.
Portugal was in the group of 12 European Union countries where there are no bans on religious clothing – until now.
