Muslim says mistresses are the French way of life

By ELAINE GANLEY
The Associated Press
Monday, April 26, 2010

PARIS — A Muslim Frenchman at the center of a firestorm over polygamy said
Monday that keeping mistresses is the French way of life.

The man’s case came to light after his wife was fined for driving with a
veil covering her face, and his comments are an ironic riposte to those in
French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s government who want to push immigrants to
better integrate into French society.

The 31-year-old Frenchwoman drew nationwide attention last week to a driving
fine she received for apparel that hinders her vision. But it soon emerged
that her husband may have four wives – although it was doubtful the
marriages were made official under French law.

The situation appeared to be a boon to Sarkozy, who is trying to rush
through controversial legislation forbidding burqa-style Islamic veils that
cover the face, on the grounds that they don’t respect French values or
women’s dignity. But it has stoked debate and may backfire on legal grounds.
The president of the French parliament’s lower chamber, Bernard Accoyer,
said Monday the text of the bill to ban full Muslim veils would be presented
at a Cabinet meeting May 19.

Many Muslims fear a law banning face-covering veils because they say
targeting the tiny minority of women who cover their faces stigmatizes
France’s entire Muslim community – at an estimated 5 million people, the
largest in western Europe. The head of the main Muslim grouping, Mohamed
Moussaoui, reiterated that message Monday after a meeting with Prime
Minister Francois Fillon. He noted that shots fired over the weekend at a
mosque in southern France failed to garner the attention given to the veil
affair.

Those who want a full ban on such veils contend the garment conceals more
than the face, notably helping to perpetuate practices like polygamy,
approved in some Muslim countries, and is a signpost of a radical
interpretation of Islam.

Interior Minister Brice Hortefeux wants to revoke the French citizenship of
the driver’s husband if he is found to be practicing polygamy. The man is
also suspected of profiting from state subsidies for single women provided
to each of the wives.

Authorities are looking into whether the Algerian-born Lies Hebbadj was
married to four women in French civil ceremonies, which would be highly
unlikely. Were he married in religious ceremonies by imams in Algeria or in
France, these unions would not count as marriages under French law, said
Rabah Hached, a Paris lawyer who specializes in immigration issues. In that
case, each of the officially unmarried women could potentially receive state
aid for her children.

For the attorney, the law may be on the side of the allegedly polygamous
man.

"It’s not forbidden to have a mistress," Hached said by telephone. While
stressing he does not know details of the case, Hached said that "I strongly
suspect this gentleman we’re talking about is within his rights."

Hebbadj, defended his lifestyle Monday by turning the notion of polygamy on
its head.

"If we are stripped of nationality, for having mistresses," Lies Hebbadj
told reporters in Nantes, then "there would be a lot of French people
stripped of nationality. As far as I know, mistresses are not forbidden,
neither in France, nor in Islam."

He did not specify whether he lives under the same roof with the various
women in his life, although press reports have quoted neighbors as saying he
moves between several houses. Hebbadj, whose robed image has been flashed
around France by TV, runs a recently opened halal butcher shop.
The revelation last week that a police officer cited the woman, whose name
has not been revealed, for driving while wearing a niqab, which reveals only
the eyes, provided a taste of what is in store.

A French bill that would outlaw the veils in all public places will be
introduced in May, despite a ruling by France’s highest administrative body
that it risks being found unconstitutional.

Prime Minister Francois Fillon met Monday with Muslim leaders and the
justice minister Monday to lay the groundwork for an eventual law.
Belgium also plans a full ban on Islamic garments that cover the face and
was expected to be the first EU country to institute one, until the collapse
last week of the Belgian government. That legislation is on hold.

Sarkozy, who has striven to revive what he says is a loss of basic French
values, is sinking in polls and his conservative party was trounced in March
regional elections. Some Socialist rivals suggested the arrest of the veiled
driver with a suspect husband was a setup.

A Socialist Party spokesman accused Sarkozy of playing to the
anti-immigration far-right.

"The government decided … to continue its strategy of stigmatizing"
Muslims and has become "the best ally of Islamic extremists in France,"
Benoit Hamon said Monday. "A banal police citation has been transformed into
an affair of state."

France’s Muslim leaders have consistently said the veil debate is
stigmatizing Muslims.

The question of banning face-covering veils was first broached last June
when Sarkozy told parliament that such garments are "not welcome" in France,
a message he repeated last month.

The issue blossomed into a major debate, recalling the enmity dividing
politicians and citizens before France outlawed Muslim headscarves and other
"ostentatious" religious symbols from classrooms in 2004.

The Interior Ministry estimates no more than 1,900 Muslim women wear attire
that hides the face.

There are no official numbers on the number of polygamous families in
France, most of which are from sub-Saharan Africa, but they are estimated in
the tens of thousands.