Excerpt:
Italy's foreign minister Franco Frattini on Friday rejected the idea of sending to jail women who wear the face-coveing Islamic burqa. Both Belgium and France are moving to ban the burqa and the niqab, which leaves only the woman's eyes visible.
"It's unacceptable to send women to prison because they wear the burqa in public," Frattini told satellite TV channel France24 in a interview.
French MPs will on 11 May debate regulating Islamic garments that fully cover a woman's body and face, paving the way for a likely law banning face-covering veils, officials announced earlier this week.