France's Le Pen meets head of Maronite church in Lebanon

Record ID: 276097

  • Title: France's Le Pen meets head of Maronite church in Lebanon
  • Date: 21st February 2017
  • Summary: BEIRUT, LEBANON (FEBRUARY 21, 2017) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF DAR AL FATWA BUILDING (THE TOP RELIGIOUS AUTHORITY FOR SUNNI MUSLIMS) VARIOUS OF AIDE TO THE GRAND MUTFI SHEIKH ABDUL LATIF DERIAN, KHALDOUN QAWWAS, SITTING IN HIS OFFICE PAPER WITH STATEMENT ISSUED BY THE DAR AL FATWA ABOUT THE MEETING WITH THE FRENCH PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE WHICH HAD BEEN CANCELLED STATEMENT READIN
  • Embargoed: 7th March 2017 11:21
  • Keywords: Lebanon Marine Le Pen French Presidential Candidate Maronite church Bkirki Beshara Al-Rai
  • Location: BKIRKI AND BEIRUT, LEBANON
  • City: BKIRKI AND BEIRUT, LEBANON
  • Country: Lebanon
  • Topics: Government/Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA00364GQXJB
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Marine Le Pen, presidential candidate for France's far-right National Front party met Cardinal Beshar al-Rai, the head of the Maronite Christian Church in Lebanon on Tuesday (February 21).
    Le Pen, among the frontrunners for the presidency, is using a two-day visit to Lebanon to bolster her foreign policy credentials nine weeks from the April 23 first round, and may be partly targeting potential Franco-Lebanese votes. Many Lebanese fled to France, Lebanon's former colonial power, during their country's 1975-1990 civil war and became French citizens.
    Earlier, Le Pen cancelled a meeting with Lebanon's Grand Mufti, Sheikh Abdul Latif Derian, after refusing to wear a headscarf for the encounter. He heads the Dar al-Fatwa, the top religious authority for Sunni Muslims in the multi-religious country.
    "You can pass on my respects to the Grand Mufti, but I will not cover myself up," Le Pen told reporters after she left the building.
    The cleric's press office said Le Pen's aides had been informed beforehand that a headscarf was required for the meeting and had been "surprised by her refusal".
    French law bans headscarves in the public service and for high school pupils, in the name of church-state separation and equal rights for women. Le Pen wants to extend this ban to all public places, a measure that would affect Muslims most of all.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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