Muslim woman denied French citizenship over handshake refusal

Woman is married to a French national

An Algerian Muslim woman was denied citizenship after she had refused to shake hands with a male official during the citizenship ceremony.

A French appeals court upheld a ruling denying her French citizenship. The ruling stated that the woman did not fully conform to the norms of the French community, hence, her citizenship was denied.

She had also appealed the decision in France’s highest administrative court, which upheld the government's earlier decision. The Algerian woman has been married to a French man since 2010.



Citing Islamic teaching, the woman had refused to shake hands during a citizenship ceremony in 2016. She termed the ruling against her an "abuse of power".



Previously in 2016, a Swiss regional authority ruled that two Muslim pupils at a Swiss school had to shake hands with their female teacher, or face a fine.

 

This story originally appeared in BBC