DAMASCUS, Syria — Syria has banned the face-covering Islamic veil from the country’s universities.
The Education Ministry issued the ban Sunday, according to a government official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak publicly. The ban affects public and private universities and aims to protect Syria’s secular identity, he said.
Sunday’s ban does not affect the headscarf, which many Syrian women wear.
The niqab is not widespread in Syria, although it has become more common recently — a move that has not gone unnoticed in a country governed by a secular, authoritarian regime.
Syria is the latest country to weigh in on the niqab, perhaps the most visible hallmark of strict, conservative Islam.
France’s lower house of parliament overwhelmingly approved a ban on wearing burqa-style Islamic veils on July 13 in an effort to define and protect French values, a move that angered many in the country’s large Muslim community.
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