Excerpt:
A French Muslim couple who sued a hospital after their son was born heavily handicapped were instead fined EUR 1,000 on Tuesday for refusing the presence of a male doctor during labour.
Mohammed Ijjou was born severely handicapped on 8 November 1998 as a result of neurological complications during birth.
According to the appeal court ruling, his father Radouane Ijjou physically barred a male intern from entering his wife's room for half an hour, citing religious reasons, after a midwife asked for help with the labour.