The Houston office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations on Thursday challenged the denial of a visa to a Bangladeshi Muslim woman because she refused to remove her head scarf to have her photograph taken.
On Monday the women reported that she was unable to attend a business conference in Paris over the weekend because the French Consulate in Houston wouldn't let her wear her Islamic head scarf in her visa photograph.
"This policy would in effect ban any Muslim woman who wears Islamic attire from entering France for any reason," said Najat Elsayed, spokeswoman for the Houston chapter of the council.
But Veronique Lhemenn, spokeswoman for the French Consulate in Houston, said French law forbids any attire from obscuring the view of a person in a photograph for a visa. The law applies to all visa applicants of any religion, she said.