2023-10-05 10:20:56
AA / Paris / Aladdin Mustafaoglu
“It’s as sad as it is insulting to be born in a country that doesn’t want us,” said French basketball player Salimata Sylla, who wears the hijab, criticizing her country’s ban on the veil for its players who will participate in the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.
France took the path of separation between religion and state with the secularism law of 1905 and banned the wearing of religious symbols such as “the veil and necklaces with a large cross” by employees of establishments public under the pretext of “neutrality”.
Since 2014, the same ban has been in effect for students in public schools, with the exception of university students.
In recent years, this ban has started to apply to athletes, which has sparked controversy. While some want to prevent the wearing of religious symbols during sporting competitions, others believe that this ban will deprive Muslim women, particularly of sporting activities.
French basketball player Salimata Sylla (26), nicknamed “Sally”, banned from participating in official competitions in her country since last January because of her veil, is also one of those who raised their voice once morest this ban.
Sylla said in an interview with Anadolu that she started playing basketball when she was 11 years old.
She explained that she was “not very surprised” by the announcement by the Minister of Sports of the ban on the wearing of the hijab for French athletes participating in the Olympic Games, indicating that veiled sportswomen might not play all levels of competition.
“From the start, they didn’t want us,” said Sylla, deploring the declaration of the Minister of Sports, Amélie Oudéa-Castéra.
“This is perhaps an event that we will never see once more in France. The Olympic Games are the most anticipated sporting event in the world,” she concluded.
*Translated from Arabic by Wejden Jlassi
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