Algeria bans wearing of full-face veils in administration

ALGIERS, Algeria – Algeria Prime minister Ahmed Ouayhia has banned female public sector employees from wearing veils that cover their faces.

In a letter sent to ministers and regional governors on Thursday, Ahmed Ouayhia cited reasons of identification for the move. Civil servants, he wrote, need to “observe the rules and requirements of security and communication within their department, which impose their systematic and permanent physical identification.”

Not so many women wear the niqab in Algeria, where the hijab — a scarf that covers the head and neck, but leaves the face clear — is the most popular.