Helena Dalli wants the police to enforce the law that stops people from hiding their face in public, as the government mulls a prohibition of the burqa.

The Equality Minister yesterday told the Times of Malta she has proposed a “reversal” of an internal police circular issued in February 2013 ordering officers not to enforce the ban on masks and disguises in public.

Dr Dalli was clarifying comments she made in the morning when addressing a political activity at the Labour Party club in Birżebbuġa.

“My right to dress as I please stops when it impinges on another person’s right to enjoy security,” Dr Dalli told supporters, adding that the government was considering changing the law to make it “clearer”.

My right to dress as I please stops when it impinges on another person’s right to enjoy security

Significantly, she was speaking in Birżebbuġa where the anti-immigrant Għaqda Patrijotti Maltin will hold a corner meeting next Sunday.

The issue had been raised last August by Opposition shadow justice minister Jason Azzopardi, who in a Facebook post called for the burqa to be banned after he witnessed a woman driver wearing the niqab in Paola.

Dr Dalli expressed her amazement at Dr Azzopardi’s comment. “Jason Azzopardi sat on the Cabinet that had issued the directive to the police not to enforce an existing law.”

The article in the Criminal Code could be interpreted as applying also to burqa wearers since their identity is concealed behind a veil.

Security fears behind any ban

In Parliament last week Home Affairs Minister Carmelo Abela told MPs the police did not take action against people wearing the full face veil for religious reasons because this did not contravene the country’s laws.

However, the police could order the removal of the veil if they had a reasonable suspicion that the person was about to commit a crime.

But Dr Dalli yesterday clarified that Mr Abela’s parliamentary reply was based on the internal instructions given to the police in 2013.

When speaking to this newspaper after the Birżebbuġa event, Dr Dalli said the Prime Minister had instructed her and Justice Minister Owen Bonnici to “look into best practices and propose a coherent policy” as to the public use of the full-face veil.

The burqa is a dress that provides full face covering and is worn by some female Muslim adherents. On the other hand, the niqab just leaves the eyes uncovered, while the chador is worn tight around the head but leaves the face fully exposed.

The niqab is often erroneously referred to as a burqa.

Wide debate followed on social media after TVM discussion programme Xarabank last Friday interviewed two Maltese Muslim women who wear the niqab while going about their daily lives.

Some civil rights advocates argue the burqa and niqab are a symbol of women’s oppression while others insist banning them is tantamount to infringing the individual’s right to practice their religion of choice.

However, arguments in favour of a ban have also focused on the potential security threat posed by someone who is unidentifiable.

One of the women on Xarabank said she always lifted her veil whenever asked to do so by a public official. She insisted wearing the niqab was a matter of personal choice.