Kenza Drider in a burqa despite a ban on veils in Meaux, east of Paris. (Reuters)

Meaux (France), Sept. 22 (Reuters): A French court today fined a Muslim woman 120 euros ($164) for wearing a full-face veil in public, prompting the single mother of three to vow an appeal to the European Court of Human Rights to get France to overturn its burqa ban.        

The woman, Hind Ahmas, said she would also appeal her sentence in a French court with the backing of French businessman Rachid Nekkaz who has pledged to pay all fines imposed on burqa wearers under the ban.       

A second woman, Najate Naitali, was fined 80 euros in absentia by the court in the town of Meaux, northeast of Paris, in the first court sentencing over a breach of the burqa ban since it came into force in April.       

“(This) violates European laws. For us the question isn’t the amount of the fine but the principle. We can’t accept that women are sentenced because they are freely expressing their religious beliefs,” Ahmas said.