By DEBORAH AMOS - NPR
Added: Fri, 23 Jul 2010 12:00:33 UTC

Thanks to Derek Morr for the link.
Original link

Women wear the niqab, a face-covering veil, as they shop in Damascus' oldest market on Monday. The Syrian Education Ministry's ban on the veil comes as similar moves in Europe spark cries of discrimination against Muslims.

It's a small piece of cloth that has become a political symbol.

As a loud and controversial debate continues over wearing the Muslim face veil in Europe, Syria quietly imposed curbs Sunday on the niqab, the veil that exposes only the eyes.

The secular-minded Syrian government has rejected extreme religious dress in the classroom, the first Arab government to weigh in so heavily on the face veil.

While many Syrian Muslim women wear a head scarf, the Syrian government sees the face veil as a growing sign of radical Islam. The latest crackdown is in the education system. However, over the past year dozens of Islamic institutes have also been shuttered.

Most Syrians welcomed the government's decree and those who didn't kept quiet about it.

In the Rawda cafe, an institution here, where backgammon games go long into the night, English student Alaa Badran believes most Syrians don't accept extreme religious expression.
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TAGGED: LAW, RELIGION