Olympics-Hijab compromise fails to quell France's discrimination debate

By Layli Foroudi

PARIS (Reuters) - Days before the Paris Olympics began, French sprinter Sounkamba Sylla was stuck in a row with her government over the right to wear a hijab at the opening ceremony.

But after a last-gasp compromise was found - in the shape of a navy blue baseball cap hastily bought from a high street store - the 26-year-old sailed down the River Seine beaming with fellow athletes from the national team.

With French competitors bound by secularist laws that stop them donning the Islamic headscarf, rights advocates saw Sylla's case as perpetuating discrimination against Muslims, though some saw it as authorities at least tempering their stance.

"The French team is supposed to represent France and there are Muslims in France," said Timothee Gauthierot, a basketball coach campaigning against the hijab ban. "They find a compromise to hide her headscarf - but why hide it?"

Sylla posted pictures of herself looking happy in the cap at last week's ceremony, which highlighted themes of tolerance and inclusion, but she has not commented publicly.

She was due to compete later on Friday in the mixed 4x400 metre relay heats. The French Olympic Committee has said she would run in a cap.

French lawyer Slim Ben Achour, who has represented women banned from wearing the hijab outside of the public sector jobs, said the arrangement for Sylla was a step forward but still impinged on a fundamental right of religious freedom.

French institutions habitually reject garments viewed as substitutes for the hijab.

"These discussions show that (the hijab ban) is not a sacrosanct principle that has to absolutely be respected," he told Reuters. "(Sylla's case) is an opening and it is because the world is in Paris. France cannot send a message that will be interpreted as racist behaviour."

French laws forbid state workers and school pupils from wearing religious symbols and clothing in public institutions.

This was extended to France's Olympic athletes on grounds they were on a "public service mission", the government said.

VARYING RULES

Rights groups say that fits a pattern of discrimination against Muslim athletes at all levels. "If France wants to show they're inclusive, then the very easy human rights-compliant way forward is to end these types of bans," said Anna Blus, gender justice researcher at Amnesty International.

French sports authorities and Sylla settled on the cap after discussions also involving Games sponsor and luxury goods firm LVMH's Berluti brand, which designed the French athletes' opening ceremony outfits.

The Ministry of Sport declined to comment and Berluti representatives were not immediately available for comment on how the compromise was brokered.

Beyond the Olympics, French sports federations set their own rules: football, basketball and judo ban headcovers for competitions while rugby, handball and athletics allow it.

For Souad Noubli, who dropped out of her sports teaching degree because she would not be able to wear a headscarf in the profession, asking Sylla to wear a cap was unfair.

"Let's stop saying it's a favour for her. Her choice and her rights were not respected," said the 42-year-old youth animator from Nanterre, for whom the principle of secularism should protect the practice of all religions.

The Olympics have shone a spotlight on the multiple controversies over the place of religion and religious symbols in public in France, home to Europe's largest Muslim minority.

Tunisian steeplechase runner Marwa Bouzayani, who competes in a sports hijab, said that she did not understand the restriction and that women athletes should be able to choose what they wear.

"Why should she wear a cap? What's the difference? Does her government think the hijab is backward?" the 27-year-old told Reuters during a training session.

"(A cap) can bother you, it's not comfortable, the wind can catch it, it's not the same as just running in the hijab."

Asked about what she thought of the cap compromise, Masomah Ali Zada, head of the refugee team and a cyclist, who was granted asylum in France after fleeing Afghanistan and wears a hijab, said it was a difficult question.

"I'm really happy to be in the refugees' Olympic team and they respect me as I am," she told Reuters.

(Reporting by Layli Foroudi; additional reporting by Mimosa Spencer, Julien Pretot, Elizabeth Pineau; editing by Richard Lough and Andrew Cawthorne)