Spain Rejects Broad Ban on Burqa

AP reports that Spain's Parliament on Tuesday defeated a bill that would have banned women from wearing the burqa in any public place. The lower chamber defeated the bill by a vote of 183 no to 162 yes with 2 abstentions. However the ruling Socialist government, whose legislators opposed the total ban, plans to introduce a narrower bill this fall that would merely ban wearing the burqa in government buildings. Mansur Escudero, president of the Islamic Commission of Spain, said he does not know of any Muslim women in Spain who currently wear the burqa on a regular basis.