In 2010, France's controversial burqa ban made headlines around the world, and it may be about to hit the front pages again.
The UN Human Rights Committee (OHCHR) will shortly reveal its conclusion that the law, which forbids people from concealing their face in public – goes against 'religious freedom' and is 'discriminatory against women', French media has reported.
The OHCHR – a consultative body made up of independent international experts but which has no legal power to impose law changes and recently some politicians have called for the law to be hardened.
The subject came up last week after it was revealed that after France's most-wanted man Redoine Faïd was arrested after 3 months on the run, had worn a burqa for disguise.
It is not the first time the committee has been asked to examine French law.
In August, the UN experts handed in their conclusion into the 'Baby Loup' case, in which a woman called Fatima Afif was fired from a nursery near Paris in 2008 for flouting company rules by wearing a headscarf.
They ruled that France had infringed religious freedom and that the case breached international agreements on human rights.
The woman's lawyers took the case to the UN body after France's highest court endorsed her dismissal in 2014 after a long legal battle. That year, the French court's decision was also upheld by the European Court of Human Rights.Thecommittee advised the French government to take the necessary steps to prevent similar actions in the future.
The controversial case, named after the name of the nursery where it happened – was the basis for a new law on religious neutrality in private nurseries in France.
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In France, which has Europe's largest Muslim population, tensions over Muslim headwear and other religious clothing regularly flare up, pitting the country's cherished secular constitution against religious freedoms.
A spate of jihadist terrorist attacks in recent years has made these issues particularly sensitive.
As well as the 2010 burqa ban France also introduced a law in 2004 which banned 'ostensible' religious symbols or items of clothing in state primary and secondary schools as well as all state-run buildings like town halls.
Defenders of the 2010 law, brought in under the presidency of Nicolas Sarkozy, argued that its main aim was as a security measure to bar anyone from being able to hide their identity in public. Supporters also said it would help promote freedom and respect for women.
But critics at the time argued that the law was simply brought in to win votes and pander to the increasingly Islamophobic right.
When it introduced the burqa ban in 2010, France was the first European country to do so. Denmark and the Netherlands have since followed suit.
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The banning of wearing symbols of your religious faith is wrong for many reasons.But the wearing of clothing that entirely hides your identity is a total security risk and the French law on that should stand.
Anyway, what right has the UN Human Rights Committee got to criticise our laws when they have just elected countries with appalling human rights record on to their council.
I agree with you, Leon.