Islamophobia Watch

Human rights groups in Tunisia say women who wear an Islamic headscarf are being persecuted by the authorities. The groups say that school girls with the headscarf are being harassed and forced to remove the headcover at schools and universities.

Rachid al-Ghanoushi, a leading Tunisian Islamist who lives in exile in London, said the state had no right to interfere with personal choice. "Does it harm the state when a woman wears a headscarf or not?" he said. "We are not demanding the imposition of any particular dress on women, we are demanding public and personal freedom."