Prosecutors in the northern Italian city of Milan have asked a court to give conservative lawmaker Daniela Santanche a one-month jail term and a 100-euro fine for holding an unauthorised protest against the Islamic burqa in 2009.
The prosecutors also ordered Egyptian Ahmed El Badry to pay a 2,000 euro fine for punching Santanche in the chest during the demonstration on 20 September 2009 at the end of the holy Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.
Santanche, a staunch supporter of ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi, organised the protest against the head-to-toe burqa worn by observant Muslim women, which she called “a portable prison”.
Santanche told the court she and her bodyguards attended the prayer meeting on the last day of Ramadan to “verify with my own eyes whether or not Muslim women were respecting Italian law, which says you can’t walk around in public with your face covered”.
She is due to be sentenced on 2 December.