Muslim-majority country where women wearing niqab face fines

Kyrgyz police have imposed hefty fines and issued official warnings to women wearing the niqab - a face-covering veil that is banned in the Muslim-majority country.

At least 29 women have been fined $230 each for violating the niqab ban, police said. The ban went into effect earlier this year.

The women were detained during raids in the southern province of Osh and the southwestern province of Jalal-Abad, where local governments, police and security services have carried out operations to enforce the ban.

Nearly 300 women wearing the niqab in public were stopped by officers in the first two days of operations carried out in April in Osh, according to regional police.

Kyrgyzstan this year passed a law banning the niqab, a veil that covers the entire face except the eyes. Under the law, women who violate the ban and wear the niqab in public face fines.

The law, signed by President Sadyr Japarov, does not explicitly mention the niqab, known in Kyrgyzstan as “parandzha.” Instead, it does sanction “clothing that makes it impossible to identify a person in government offices and public spaces” – a phrase often used in Central Asia to describe the niqab.

The ban does not affect the hijab, the Islamic headscarf that covers the hair and neck, but leaves the face uncovered.

The niqab has been quite popular in Kyrgyzstan, particularly in Osh and Jalal-Abad over the past decade. The raids were mainly concentrated in these two provinces.

Raising awareness about the niqab ban

Since April, the campaign to enforce the niqab ban has included street raids but also awareness-raising efforts, regional authorities said.

Law enforcement officials, including police officers, have distributed leaflets and held meetings with residents to explain the law.

Through large television screens, placed in public spaces in the districts of the Osh region, in Uzgen, Kara-su and Nukat, videos have been shown to inform residents about the ban and fines.

Authorities said they spoke to nearly 300 women wearing the niqab during a two-day raid in the provincial capital of Osh, Osh City. Nearly 80 women wearing the niqab were detained during another two-day raid there in July.

The women were given warnings and leaflets, according to the Osh police department, which said the Osh City Court, the regional office of the State Committee for National Security, and the Agency for Religious Affairs and Interethnic Relations are actively involved in this campaign.

According to police reports, 22 of the 29 women who were fined were residents of Osh City.

Seven other women were detained in other public places in the Jalal-Abad region during "Operation Niqab" conducted in August.

Security threat?

The growing popularity of the niqab in Kyrgyzstan has raised concerns among some local politicians and public figures, who have called it a security threat. Others have argued that the niqab is not traditionally part of Kyrgyz culture.

The Kyrgyz parliament and media have debated for over a decade about the place of the niqab in society.

The Muslim Spiritual Directorate of Kyrgyzstan has publicly supported the government's position. The state-backed directorate has stressed that "the hijab is obligatory [for Muslim women], but the niqab is not."

But critics have argued that the ban isolates women who choose to wear the niqab and limits their freedom.

The niqab has also been banned in other Central Asian countries, which have also banned the wearing of the hijab in schools and workplaces. Kyrgyzstan is the only country in the region that allows the hijab in schools and government offices. /rel/