French Restaurant Owner Fined for Denying Entry to Muslim Woman Wearing Hijab

The 64-year-old restaurateur was found guilty of "discrimination based on religion" for refusing access to her establishment to a veiled customer, accompanied by her son on Mother’s Day. She clearly told the woman to remove her veil before entering the restaurant.

At the November 15 hearing, the Bayonne prosecutor’s office requested a 600 euro fine against her, considering her remarks "defamatory". The judge sentenced the sexagenarian to pay this fine and to pay 1,300 euros for the moral damage suffered by the customer and her son. She will also have to undergo a citizenship training "with a view to learning the values of the Republic".

The lawyer of the defendant, Jacques Tournaire, does not rule out appealing this decision. "So they want to teach my client to be French. When there is a mix between culture and religion, it gives this kind of decision," he reacted. "I felt very humiliated, she hurt me a lot, now I always have this fear when I go to a restaurant," testified the veiled customer during the trial. And her son to add at the bar: "We felt like second-class citizens".