On the outskirts of Paris, 44 -year -old Selfie Erina focuses on French weightlifting, and pays 80 kilograms of bar and weights, headed by Al Mahjoub.
The single mother made her four children proud when she became the French national champion in her amateur group last year, after discovering this sport at the age of forty.
But now a Muslim has turned concerns that are no longer able to compete because the French government is pushing for a new law to ban the veil in local sports competitions.
“It seems as if they are trying to limit our freedoms every time a little more than that,” said Iberina, an emotional athlete who trains five days a week.
“It is frustrating because everything we want is exercise.”
Under the secular regime of France, civilian employees, teachers, students and athletes who represent France abroad cannot wear clear religious symbols, such as the Christian cross, the Jewish kaiba, or the turban of the Sikhs or the Muslim veil, also known as the veil.
To date, individual national sports federations can decide whether the veil will be allowed in local competitions.
But the new legislation aims to prevent the head of coverage in all professional and amateur competitions at the country level.
Supporters say he will unite confusing regulations, enhance secularism and fight extremism.
Critics argue that it will be just another base that is clearly distinguished against Muslim women.
“The submission code”
The draft law was approved in the Senate in February, and it will soon go to vote in the lower parliament of the French Parliament.
Some supporters want to stop what they call “Islamic infringement” in a country that has rocked fatal jihadist attacks in recent years.
However, critics point to the report of the Ministry of Interior for the year 2022 that the data “failed to show a structural or even important phenomenon of extremism” in sports.
The French Olympic Judo champion, Teddy Renner, the star of the Paris 2024 games, said last month that France was “lost” with such discussions and should consider “equality instead of attacking one religion and the same.”
The right -wing Interior Minister Bruno Retario answered that he was “radically opposed”, describing the veil as a “symbol of submission.”
Ebina, who turned at the age of nineteen, said her clothes – which the union allows weightlifting – was never a problem among his weightlifting colleagues.
She said that sport allowed her to make friends with completely different backgrounds.
She said: “Sports brings us together: It forces us to get to know each other, to overcome our biases.”
“Really sad”
France’s football and basketball federations are among those that have banned religious symbols, including the veil.
The country’s highest administrative court in 2023 supported the base in football, on the pretext that the federation was allowed to impose “neutrality requirements”.
Last year, United Nations experts described the rules in both sport as “incompatible and discriminatory.”
It is difficult to estimate the number of women that can be prevented from competition if such legislation is passed. but AFP She spoke to many women whose lives were already affected by similar rules.
Samia Bolgardry, 21, of Algerian origin, said that she was playing football in her club in the village of Motors for four years when she decided to cover her hair at the end of the high school.
She continued to play with her team, but after her club fined several weekends in a row to allow her on the field, they asked her to take off the veil or stop.
“They ended my happiness, just like this, made me really sad,” she said.
The brand of secularism in France stems from the 1905 law that protects “freedom of conscience”, separating the church and the state, and ensuring the neutrality of the state.
The country’s constitution states that France is a secular republic.
Reem Sarah Alwan, a researcher at the University of Toulouse, said that the 1905 law, which was intended to “protect the state from possible violations from religion”, “has been armed” against Muslims in recent years.
She said that French secularism “turned into a tool in its modern interpretation of controlling the vision of religion within the public space, especially, and most of them target Muslims.”
“Defense of secularism”
Sports Minister Mary Parsak warned last month of “mixing” the wearing of the veil with extremism in sports.
But Justice Minister Gerald Darmanin said that if she did not “defend secularism”, it will enable the extreme right.
In the area of the north of Paris, Audrey Defo, 24, said that she had stopped competing in basketball games after she turned into Islam a few years ago.
Instead, she continued training with her former teammates and started training an adult team in the club.
But when you go to weekend games, it is not allowed to enter the stadium seat with the veil – so it is forced to scream from the instructions of the ovaries.
Defu said: “In school, I learned that secularism was living together, accepting everyone and allowing everyone to practice their religion.” “It seems to me that they change the definition a little.”