×

Our award-winning reporting has moved

Context provides news and analysis on three of the world’s most critical issues:

climate change, the impact of technology on society, and inclusive economies.

Algeria bans wearing of full-face veils at work

by Reuters
Thursday, 18 October 2018 20:41 GMT

ARCHIVE PHOTO: Women wearing traditional dresses walk at the old city of Boussaada, in the north eastern part of the Algerian Saharan Atlas region, October 16, 2010. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Image Caption and Rights Information

Most Algerian women do not wear the niqab but the decision is likely to criticized by Algeria's Salafists minority

ALGIERS, Oct 18 (Reuters) - Algerian authorities on Thursday banned women from wearing full-face veils, or niqabs, at work, citing reasons of identification for the decision.

The country has been split between moderate and more radical forms of Islam since it was plunged into years of civil war in 1992, when a military-backed government cancelled elections that an Islamist party was poised to win.

Most Algerian women do not wear the niqab, a custom imported from more traditionally conservative Arab countries such as Saudi Arabia, but the decision is likely to criticized by Algeria's Salafists minority.

The Salafists endorse Saudi's strict Wahhabi version of Sunni Islam and oppose the more mainstream Sufi Islam that dominates Algeria and other North African countries.

Violence has dramatically diminished since the war petered out around the turn of the millennium, but a hardcore of armed jihadist groups continue to launch attacks, mainly in remote areas.

(Reporting by Lamine Chikhi Editing by Ulf Laessing and John Stonestreet)

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

-->