Ban on the full veil covering the face in public places, offices, schools and universities; regulation of mosque financing; more severe penalties for the crime of inducing marriage by deception: these are some of the regulatory changes that FdI aims to introduce with a bill “against separatism”.
“It serves to counter the birth of enclaves, counter-societies in which sharitic law is applied and not the Italian system, and where Islamic fundamentalism proliferates”, explained FdI deputy Sara Kelany, who signed the bill with the group leader Galeazzo Bignami and Francesco Filini, presented to the Chamber with the undersecretary of Justice Andrea Delmastro.
As Filini remarked, this bill concerns “one of the cornerstones of FdI’s political action: Italy is welcoming and tolerant, but we defend the principles of cultural and religious freedom tooth and nail”. In essence, the bill also intervenes on the niqab and burqa, providing for the ban “on clothing that covers people’s faces, masks or any other means” which makes “recognition of the person difficult, in public places, open to the public, places of education of any order and level, universities, commercial establishments and offices”. And it provides for an administrative fine of 300 to 3 thousand euros.
“This law – explained Kelany – addresses two needs: that of the safety of citizens who must be able to know who they are dealing with; and that of not mortifying the dignity of women, because erasing the woman’s face means mortifying her dignity”.
“This is the aspect of least difficulty in application. Instead, the legislator’s effort, including implementation, will have to be concentrated on the sources of financing and support for urban planning interventions aimed at the settlement of religious places”, underlined Bignami, illustrating the proposed law, which provides provisions for tracking financing for buildings of worship, to make the origin of the funds clear and transparent and to avoid “them deriving from natural or legal persons with contrary purposes to the state system and which may in some way disturb public order”. Furthermore, it is proposed to regulate “the communication of financing from abroad, specifying them, to the Ministry of the Interior”. A necessary measure, added Delmastro, “because it is clear that behind the financing of some mosques, beyond the problem of illegal mosques, a soft power exercised by associations, bodies and third parties with other purposes can be hidden”.
Furthermore, Kelany explained, FdI proposes to “strengthen the legislation of the Red Code on forced marriages”, raising the penalties, from 2 to 7 years instead of from 1 to 5, for the crime of inducing marriage by deception. A solution, “to better combat the phenomenon of arranged marriages, which often damage the rights of minors or otherwise very fragile people”. It is also expected to punish “whoever, with violence or threats or by leveraging religious precepts or by exploiting a situation of vulnerability, forces others to contract marriage, even in a foreign country, with imprisonment from four to ten years”. Increased punishment if the crime is committed against minors.
The proposal then provides for two new criminal cases (with prison from 2 to 5 years), relating to the objective virginity examination and the issuing of the virginity certificate, except for the justification for the doctor carrying out the examination for health reasons. FdI then aims to broaden the scope of the crime of propaganda and incitement to crime for reasons of racial, ethnic and religious discrimination, also punishing “those who propagate ideas based on superiority and hatred of a religious nature”, and providing for the possibility for the Prefect to temporarily close places of worship where these criminal conducts take place.
Reproduction reserved © Copyright ANSA
