al-Qaeda condemns veil ban

CAIRO – al-Qaeda’s No. 2 has slammed France’s push to ban the Islamic full-face veil and urged Muslim women to be “holy warriors” in the defence of their headdress against the “secular Western crusade” in a new audio message released yesterday on militant websites.In the 47-minute recording, Ayman al-Zawahri said the drive by France and other European nations to ban the veil amounted to discrimination against Muslim women.“Every single woman who defends her veil is a holy warrior . . .  in the face of the secular Western crusade,” he said. “France, with all its power and clout, can’t touch the head-cover of a nun, but it can assault any face-veiled woman.” (AP)