First French Women Fined for Wearing Veils

Two French women have received the country's first fines for wearing a full-face veil—and they hope the fines will be the first nail in the coffin of the ban. The Muslim women, who were fined more than $100 each after wearing the veils while trying to deliver a birthday cake to a lawmaker who championed the ban—plan to use the convictions as a starting point from which to challenge the ban in the European Court of Human Rights, the Independent reports.

The French ban has inspired similar laws in other European countries, and some 130 other women have been ticketed for wearing full-face veils in France. But they all accepted verbal warnings or lessons on French civics instead of fines. Another Frenchwoman who refuses to obey the ban declared her candidacy for the French presidency yesterday. One of Kenza Drider's campaign posters shows her wearing a veil in front of a line of police. "When a woman wants to maintain her freedom, she must be bold," she tells AP. (More France stories.)