LE PEN SHUNS SCARF
Meeting with imam cancelled after she was offered shawl to cover her head
French far-right presidential candidate causes row when meeting Lebanon’s grand mufti,
BEIRUT // France’s far- right presidential candidate, Marine Le Pen, sparked controversy yesterday during her brief visit to Lebanon when she refused to wear a headscarf to meet the country’s top Sunni Muslim imam.
On her last day in the country, Ms Le Pen arrived at Sheikh Abdellatif Deryan’s office in Beirut and was offered a white shawl to cover her hair.
The Front National candidate promptly refused and made a brief statement before leaving.
“The highest Sunni authority in the world had not had this requirement, so I have no reason to,” Ms Le Pen said, referring to her 2015 visit to Al Azhar, the prestigious Egyptian institution of Sunni Islamic learning in Cairo.
She said she had told Sheikh Deryan’s office on Monday that she would not wear a headscarf: “They did not cancel the meeting, so I thought they would accept that I will not wear the scarf.”
“They wanted to impose this on me, to present me with a fait accompli. Well, no one presents me with a fait accompli,” the candidate said. Sheikh Deryan heads Dar Al Fatwa, the highest Sunni authority in Lebanon.
The body said “its press office had informed the presidential candidate, through one of her assistants, of the need to cover her head when she meets his eminence, according to the protocol assumed by Dar Al Fatwa”.
“Dar Al Fatwa officials were surprised by her refusal to con- form to this well-known rule,” it said.
Fewer than a dozen protesters gathered near Lebanon’s Zaytuna Bay yesterday afternoon to protest against Ms Le Pen’s visit.
“From Beirut to Damascus to Paris to Washington, fascists flock together,” one placard read.
One banner read “Fascists out” and demonstrators carried pictures of Ms Le Pen and Donald Trump. On Monday, Ms Le Pen met a foreign head of state for the
‘ They wanted to impose this on me, to present me with a fait accompli Marine Le Pen French far-right presidential candidate
first time – Lebanon’s president Michel Aoun.
The National Front leader, whose party takes an anti- immigrant stance, also met prime minister Saad Hariri and foreign minister Gebran Bassil.
Islamic dress is a hot-button issue in France, where the fullface veil is banned in public places.
Shunned by European leaders over her party’s stance on immigration and its anti-EU message, Ms Le Pen’s meeting with Mr Aoun aimed to boost her inter- national credibility. France had mandate power over Lebanon and Syria during the first half of the 20th century. Ms Le Pen has met few top foreign officials since taking control of the National Front in 2011. German chancellor Angela Merkel has refused to meet her.
After leaving Sheikh Deryan’s office, Ms Le Pen headed to Bkerkeh, north of Beirut, to meet Maronite Catholic Beshara Rai.