Tarentola Mauritanica - Wazaghun

Petition: King Abdullah: Immediately release journalist Hamza Kashgari

2012-02-13T08:05:00.000-08:00

Just a few days ago i wrote about Hamza Kashgari.
Obviously he was arrested and sent back to Saudi Arabia.
Petitions normally dont work, but there is not much more that can be done.

Hamza Kashgari: "satanic tweets" result in calls for the death penalty

2012-02-10T01:09:00.000-08:00

Until last weekend 23 years old Kashgari Hamza was just a young and upcoming journalist from Saudi Arabia with quite a fan base following him not only in the newspapers but also on twitter. Currently he is a man who has to fear for his life with a saudi government prohibiting all newspapers from publishing any texts by Kashgari. More than 10.000 people on facebook demand his death and it is not clear where Kashgari currently is.
What has happened?
On Saturday, a day before the birthday of Muhammad, Kashgari published three tweets about Mohammed.

Here is a screenshot of the original tweets:

Tweet # 1: "On your birthday I will say that I loved the revolutionary in you, who always inspired me. But I do not like the halo. I pray thee not. "
Tweet # 2: "On your birthday I'll see you wherever I turn. I will say that I liked things about you, hated things and didn't understand some other things. "
Tweet # 3: "On your birthday I will not bow myself before you, not kiss your hand. I'll shake it as an equal and smile at you so as you smile at me. And I'll talk to you only as a friend ... That's all. "

By the end of the weekend some 30.000 tweets dealth with the issue, a facebook group called The saudi people want the punishment of Hamza Kashgari" was created with more than 10.000 fans and quite a lot of "experts" in the form of Saudi "jurists" and "preachers" gave out their verdict: DEATH.

See for example Nasser al-Omar here CRYING because he supposedly can't bear the insult of the Prophet. By his actions Kashgari supposedly has shown himself to be an apostate and we all know what that means in Saudi Arabia: beheading by a sword.
The outcry worked and the government has banned Kashgaris works and texts demanding his arrest. It didn't help him that he deleted his tweets and apologized. He had to flee. Nobody knows exactly where he is. There are reports that he was caught in Malaysia, but also a dementi to that has been circulating.
What is so sad about the whole story is that actually Kashgari didn't even say anything really evil in the first place. Especially those that demand his death actually should agree with him mostly. For it is the conservative (wahabi) circle that actually denies Mohammed the status of anything but a human (and of course prophet). Exactly that circle that also considers birthday celebrations to be an unislamic (and thus evil) invention. So basically his tweets express what they officially teach. Perhaps it was the word "hate" that caused the uproar.... or perhaps he is just an easy target for the conservatives in an endless struggle between stupid wahabites and almost as stupid supposedly "liberals". Well in Saudi Arabia any "liberal" is still an ultraconservative by the standards of most other "arabic/muslim" countries.

Anyway ... to stay true to my promise: FUCK ALLAH !!!!

Calls to Behead Indonesian Atheist Alexander Aan

2012-02-03T00:40:00.000-08:00

As Dan Barker once formulated

Any belief system that threatens you with (physical) violence is morally bankrupt.

It is 2012 and we take a look at some "democratic" country that allows for "6 religions":

Islam,
Buddhism,
Hinduism,
Catholicism,
Protestantism and
Confucianism.

Notice please that "lack of belief" is not only considered a "belief" but also (an) illegal (one)!

You already can guess where this is going, can't you?

Don't you dare declare yourself to be an "atheist" (whatever that actually may mean) in that country.

The trouble began when civil servant Alexander Aan posted a message on the Facebook page of Atheist Minang, a group of Indonesians with godless beliefs. It read: “God doesn’t exist.”

In some places it might cost you your head. Apostacy is punishable by death in some regions. We knew that already....

Don't you dare "insult" a nonexisting entity in that country. In some places it might cost you your head. Blasphemy is punishable by death in some regions. We knew that already.

However this one is a new kind of nonsense. Suddenly not believing in a god equates to blasphemy. It was new to me that "not X" suddenly equals a "X is *put some insult here*".

To add insult to injury, police then arrested him and now want to press blasphemy charges that could see him locked up for five years.

Doesn't keep the mob from demanding his death for both.
Can't you kill someone at least "consistently" for a non-crime instead of using the prescribed punishment for another non-crime instead? Especially when both have the same "super-moral" and "divinely sanctioned" consequences?

Sorry ... it is time for another "Fuck Allah"again...

PS: Where are you going to during your vacations?

God being honest and allknowing ... impossible

2012-01-03T05:36:00.000-08:00

This is my first try to create a youtube video. It turns out that an essentially easy topic is not so easily put into images...

I could need some critique and help. For those that dont understand the video i have a small explanation below.

Ok... here is the original thought...
Although god might be allknowing in the sense that he knows all that is knowable ... he couldnt possibly be sure to be allknowing. There is no difference in perception between something that doesnt exist and something that we couldnt detect if it existed. The same applies for knowledge.You cant differentiate between the situation in which knowledge exists but you cant possibly know about it and the situation in which no further knowledge exist.

Allknowingness does not include the knowledge that one is allknowing. This in itself is no problem.
It becomes a problem when you postulate an HONEST being that is NOT stupid and that tells you that it is allknowing. This simply cant be. You cant honestly claim to be allknowing because THEN you have the problem that you claim that allknowingness would include knowledge about itself.

Andreas Hamza Tzorzis another unimportant person deleted on wikipedia

2011-12-18T06:35:00.000-08:00

Hamza .. the "international public speaker" of the "islamic education and research academy" (already two jokes in one sentence) was a guy who tried to educate PZ Myers on embryology (three and counting) and the quran's superior knowledge about the topic 1400 years ago.

I was shocked to see that he had a page entry in wikipedia. But lo and behold ... someone there obviously took the time to review it.
Hamza is now again in search for the meaning of life as his entry was deleted.
I just love the justifications.

The reasons are, that is no proof whatsoever for this person's notability and that this guy is without any relevance in public life or science.

Hitchens in Hell.... "God is going to give us what we insist on having"

2011-12-17T12:10:00.000-08:00

I am happy for any evil comment religionists make. And i think Christopher would be too. For nobody could underline the essence of his book (gos is not great, how religion poisons everything) as strongly as religionists.
They do exactly what they supposedly wouldnt do because of their "superior morality" in relation to us "evil" baby eaters.

So to all theists I say ... "bring it on".

Via Atheist Media Blog

#GodisNotGreat Twitter Trend! Death Threats from CHRISTIANS on TWITTER.

2011-12-17T01:04:00.001-08:00

not worth a comment

Christopher Hitchens' 'God Is Not Great' Trends on Twitter, Christians Threaten Violence

2011-12-16T11:35:00.000-08:00

A Twitter hashtag meant as a tribute to Christopher Hitchens has turned into a mini religious war, with Christian users of the site threatening violence against anyone using the tag.

The hashtag #GodIsNotGreat began trending internationally shortly after the sad announcement that Hitchens had passed away from complications linked to esophageal cancer. The tag is, of course, in honor of Hitchens' best-selling book God Is Not Great, where he lays out his argument for atheism. God Is Not Great is a foundation of the modern atheist movement, and makes a compelling case for the uselessness of religion and the non-existence of any deities.

read on

UPDATE: It seems that twitter removed the hashtag from the trends after protests by christians.

Christopher Hitchens is dead

2011-12-16T08:00:00.000-08:00

Sad thing. He was a brilliant writer, I loved his English, I feared his wit and I admired his courage.

Actually there is nothing more to say.
If it wasn't for some of the comments that I see throughout the net. Some by people that should know better.
An atheist writing "we miss you"... and he is not the only one. Many more follow along that path.

So for all those supposed atheists that didnt yet get it:
Hitchens is dead, he is fucking dead. He can't hear you anymore!

Don't talk to dead people as if you were a theist (or are you one?).
Remember, take the good parts as example to follow or even better to exceed. But don't do as if he was "somwehere in heaven listening to or looking down on us".

To his family: my sincere condolences! We all lost an honest, intelligent writer, but this is nothing in relation to what you lost.

Why most discussions with believers fail

2011-12-12T00:56:00.000-08:00

Blasphemy, blasphemy, blasphemy ... 500 lashes and a year in prison

2011-12-07T07:06:00.000-08:00

I have to make true on my promise and say FUCK ALLAH again ....

One can't help but wonder what the "religious police" thinks when it arrests someone for insulting companions of Mohammed.... while being on hajj.

You know ... normally only MUSLIMS go on hajj.
Doesn't matter for Saudis of course. Give him some 500 lashes and a year in prison. That'll teach him a lesson. How dare he make pilgrimmage and insult his own religion (no matter how strange it sounds).

You want a discussion with me? See how it goes.....

2011-12-03T11:50:00.000-08:00

~~Source not known~~
Source

Deepak Chopra apologizes to atheist Richard Dawkins

2011-12-03T09:57:00.000-08:00

I am speechless .....

Chopra:Good morning. The purpose of this video blog is an official apology to Dr. Richard Dawkins, the evolutionary biologist. Recently I appeared on the Bill O'Reilly Show and I unfairly and mean-spiritedly represented Dr. Richard Dawkins. Dr. Dawkins has been critical of my work for the last seven years and, unfortunately, I reacted by being personally offended and was unfair in my criticism of him in both my television appearances and in my written criticism of him.

Read on....

The sad state of muslims (a generalization)

2011-09-26T04:53:00.000-07:00

I do ask people to understand the following NOT as an insult but rather as an expression of deep sadness about the current state of things....
Frithjof Schuon once wrote:

"The intellectual - and thereby the rational - foundation of Islam results in the average Muslim having a curious tendency to believe that non-Muslims either know that Islam is the truth and reject it out of pure obstinacy, or else are simply ignorant of it and can be converted by elementary explanations; that anyone should be able to oppose Islam with a good conscience quite exceeds the Muslim's powers of imagination, precisely because Islam coincides in his mind with the irresistible logic of things."

Very often when i discuss topics with muslims I am reminded of the above quote.

What however i think is a very sad fact is that of all the people i debate muslims seem to be the ones that have the least knowledge about logic, reason and science. Well, let us inject that they might be on the same level as bible beld creationists with no degree. Most debates center around the intellectual level of children at the age of 5-10. It almost seems as if many of the muslims that debate have not grown up mentally beyond that stage. Several possible reasons come to mind. One of them being poor education, but another one seems to be the deep insecurity that lingers at the edge of a faith that is upheld not because but rather despite reality.They drown their own lack of knowledge by videos of the Zakir Naiks of the world, by copies of internet propaganda where scientists are quote mined and have been exploited by islamic "reasearch" organizations....
The same groups that around half a decade ago when science was "in" and islam was "out" thought about a way to make them both compatible so that they wouldnt loose the followers. The same group that held conferences and tricked scientists to participate in order to promote science in the islamic world while the real goal was to claim scientific miracles in the Quran. I still have the email correspondance i have held with some of the quoted scientists. Not a shred of truthfullness in all those internet videos can be found and you see a desastrous agenda at work. Now we see the fuits of all those efforts. People that do not have a clue about evolution, yet spit out the venom of supposed knowledge on why evolution would be wrong, "backed up" again and again by supposed "new discoveries" of science. The fact that 99% of scientists in the biological field alone take evolution as fact either is ignored or discarded as conspiracy.
It is sad to see such stubborness of people that claim to belong to a society that supposedly was one of the greatest until just some 600 years ago.
Now the decendents of that society ask questions at the level of "who made a tree ?.... there must be a creator" instead of dealing with questions like those that modern science tackles every day starting from the connection between body and mind up to the first few nanoseconds of this universes existence.

"Can a thief go unpunished if he doesnt get caught? No, i dont want that!" That is the level that get's discussed in the net. Hours are spend debating whether it is halal or haram to listen to music.... And we get to hear "no, my grandma was no ape"...

Now ALL of this would be ok, if this was a kid who talked.. we expect to hear such stuff from kids. But we are talking with supposed grown-ups here.

And the most arrogant part of it all is that those supposed grown-ups tell us what "REASON" and "LOGIC" supposedly is and ask us to listen with an open "MIND".
The irony of this is nauseating.

Girl accused of blasphemy for a spelling error

2011-09-25T07:29:00.000-07:00

Again it is Pakistan, again it is ridiculous and i would laugh if it weren't for such a nasty thing called "reality".

Faryal Bhatti, a student at the Sir Syed Girls High School in Pakistan Ordnance Factories (POF) colony Havelian, erroneously misspelt a word in an Urdu exam while answering a question on a poem written in praise of the Holy Prophet (PBUH). The word in question was ‘laanat’ instead of ‘naat’ – an easy error for a child to make, as the written versions of the words are similar.According to the school administration and religious leaders who took great exception to the hapless student’s mistake, the error is ‘serious’ enough to fall within the realm of blasphemy, Saturday.

You can't but wonder how weak people's faith or self esteem is for them to react in such a bigotted way.

While talking to The Express Tribune, Maulana Alla Dita Khateeb of Gol Masjid praised the decision of the POF colony administration, claiming that he had personally seen the answer sheet in question. He further went on to say that he had met the girl himself, who had apologised for the word used in error. Asked whether the incident still fell within the realm of blasphemy and whether Faryal deserved expulsion when she had misspelt the word unintentionally, Khateeb said that although he was unclear about the intentions of the girl, the word she had used was sacrilegious.

Sacrilegious? Sorry but another "Fuck Allah" needs to be said again...

Near death experiences no sign of life after death afterall....

2011-09-16T09:29:00.000-07:00

as if we hadn't said so before....

Seeing your life pass before you and the light at the end of the tunnel, can be explained by new research on abnormal functioning of dopamine and oxygen flow

Here goes another argument of theists ......

86 percent of Germans consider the Popes visit to be unimportant

2011-09-14T08:33:00.000-07:00

Only 14% of the German population think the popes visit would be "important" for them.
(Source in german)
86 % actually don't care personally. Even the majority of catholics (63% of them) think that the visit doesnt play a major role in their life. 26% say its "totally unimportant", 37% say its "rather unimportant".

All this just a short time before the pope will talk in the german parliament. A speech that sparks debate amongst the parties.

Personally I find it despicable to have that old man stand in front of a democratically elected parliament.
Who will be next? Ahmedinejat?

How to know if something is wrong with your (interpretation of your) religion?

2011-08-16T02:32:00.000-07:00

It's not really hard to see when something is wrong....

.....
“I do feel bad people had to die,” said Asep Setiadi, 40, as he headed out to his rice field. “But I’m grateful that they’re finally gone.”
Twenty-eight-year-old Siti Zubaidah, holding her baby girl in a sling as she chatted with a neighbor, had nothing but praise for Dani.
“We had to clean our village,” added Wildan bin Satim, 72. “This is no place for the followers of a cult.”........“Kill! Kill!” the crowd chanted. “Burn! Burn!”
By the time a video camera was rolling, two men lay naked and lifeless in the mud. The attackers continued to hammer their bodies with bamboo sticks, each thud met with a cheer.
Dani, wearing a black leather jacket and a white skull cap, was the most brutal. The 17-year-old smashed a rock repeatedly into the skull of Roni Pasaroni as the crowd yelled “Allahu Akbar” or God is Great.

"Grateful that they are gone" and cleaning sounds so neutral doesn't it? So much less hostile than "kill" or "burn" and so much less barbaric than cheering when someone hammers an innocents body.

See how "great" your God is. Especially with such "great" followers. You are slaughtering innocent humans in a bath of blood, like a cult. But foremost: you are sacrificing your own humanity.

Folks, it is obvious you are wrong.

Blasphemy is a right (says the UN)

2011-08-16T01:58:00.000-07:00

What a lucky day. By chance i found something that obviously escaped my notice before and which i haven't found much reported in the media either.
Already last month the UN issued a statement concerning the freedom of speech in relation with the human rights convention.

Here is the good part (emphasis mine):

48. Prohibitions of displays of lack of respect for a religion or other belief
system, including blasphemy laws, are incompatible with the Covenant,
except in the specific circumstances envisaged in article 20, paragraph 2, of
the Covenant. Such prohibitions must also comply with the strict
requirements of article 19, paragraph 3, as well as such articles as 2, 5, 17,
18 and 26. Thus, for instance, it would be impermissible for any such laws
to discriminate in favour of or against one or certain religions or belief
systems, or their adherents over another, or religious believers over nonbelievers. Nor would it be permissible for such prohibitions to be used to
prevent or punish criticism of religious leaders or commentary on religious
doctrine and tenets of faith.

Of course there is the exception of article 20 which states permits prohibition of "advocacy of national, racial, or religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility, or violence". But it becomes quite difficult to justify the current laws by this exception.
Especially the other comments in the (complete) document above concerning the principle proportionality, the prohibition of laws discriminating certain groups (or favoring them) deal a huge blow to quite a lot of nations on this planet, including some European ones.

Will this change anything in countries like Pakistan? I doubt it. But at least it is clear now even for the greatest apologist, that blasphemy laws are against the human rights convention.

Will this change anything in countries like Austria, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Italy, Liechtenstein, the Netherlands, and San Marino (countries with blasphemy laws) or to countries like Andorra, Cyprus, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Spain, Finland, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Lithuania, Norway, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Russian Federation, Slovakia, Switzerland, Turkey and Ukraine (countries with "religious insult" being an offense punishable by law) ?

I think it WILL change some of those laws. And it is about time !

Psychological association calls for legalization of same-sex marriage

2011-08-05T09:04:00.000-07:00

Interesting to see that the APA is finally calling for the legalization of same sex marriage.
As we saw same sex marriages in NY just weeks ago this seems a very good move at a very good time.

The scientific and professional organization's guiding body voted unanimously at its annual meeting this week in Washington to declare its support for "full marriage equality for same-sex couples."
The resolution "clarifies the Association's support for same-sex marriage" in light of new research, the group said. A similar resolution in 2004 opposed discrimination against same-sex relationships, but refrained from a more formal policy recommendation.
Dr. Clinton Anderson, APA associate executive director, said that the timing of the resolution is an indirect result of several states' legalization of marriage.

Religion defined as a result of stress disorder ?

2011-04-08T03:18:00.000-07:00

PZ Myers posts about an article in psychology today: "When The Going Gets Tough, The Atheists Go Praying"

Let me quote the essential paragraph:

Perhaps atheism is a luxury of the well-to-do. Put differently, everyone--even the most hardcore atheists, I think--will start believing in God if put under a high amount of stress. Think of the last time you prayed to God, and I will bet that, for many of you (whether you generally classify yourself as an atheist or not), it would have been when you were under stress. For most of us so-called atheists, when things go horribly wrong, we think of God.

There is a second nice statement:

And even a hardcore atheist may exhibit belief in God if he feels his life is sufficiently broken.

PZ criticizes the author/text for drawing unjustified conclusions but i think he actually misses something. It seems as if PZ wouldn't even want to consider the claim because no conclusive argument was made for it. I know quite a lot of people that actually went for the "i call for God's help, when life is bad" attitude.
And i saw quite some who didn't. So i guess it's not as easy as the author says it is BUT
Let us for a second assume that the guy writing this article is correct. What would that mean? Wouldn't that redefine Religion as a kind of result of stress disorder? In other words... would religion not be a pathological condition.

Could anybody make a purer statement showing the world that:

religion is not about truth and
religion is connected to mental instability?

Of course that would require the article to be true. So in case someone mentions it or makes a similar kind of argument, feel free to show him the other side of the coin.

Crucifixes in European schools: a different opinion about the courts ruling

2011-04-04T05:57:00.000-07:00

Over at the NYT Stanley Fish wrote a nice opinion on the recent ruling of the European courts on Lautsi and Others v. Italy.

You might remember my take on the decision.

Here is another opinion.

The plausible but flawed argument is that in the long history of Italy, the crucifix has become a “historical and cultural” symbol that now possesses an “identity-linked” rather than an exclusively religious value. Furthermore, in its “identity-linking” guise, the crucifix stands for “the liberty and freedom of every person, the declaration of the right of man, and ultimately the modern secular state.”That’s a little fast and claims too much. It may be the case that over the centuries the crucifix has become allied with secular values in the sense that the religion it represents no longer sets itself against them; but that doesn’t mean that the crucifix, especially when installed by law in state-administered classrooms, is no longer a Christian symbol and the bearer of a distinctly Christian message (salvation is by Christ and through the Church) non-believers might find uncomfortable and pressuring.

While i would agree much to what he says, i again think that he didn't ponder the question what this ruling actually says about the status of religion in Europe.

Death anxiety prompts people to believe in intelligent design? - Why am I different?

2011-04-01T02:25:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I came upon an article posted through RD.Net.

Researchers at the University of British Columbia and Union College (Schenectady, N.Y.) have found that people's death anxiety can influence them to support theories of intelligent design and reject evolutionary theory.
.....
"Our results suggest that when confronted with existential concerns, people respond by searching for a sense of meaning and purpose in life," says Tracy. "For many, it appears that evolutionary theory doesn't offer enough of a compelling answer to deal with these big questions."

Naturally I was interested in that study because with me it is the exact opposite. I lost my faith because of anxiety attacks.

The researchers carried out five studies with 1,674 U.S. and Canadian participants of different ages and a broad range of educational, socioeconomic and religious backgrounds.

In each study, participants were asked to imagine their own death and write about their subsequent thoughts and feelings, or they were assigned to a control condition: imagining dental pain and writing about that.

The participants were then asked to read two similarly styled, 174-word excerpts from the writings of Behe and Dawkins, which make no mention of religion or belief, but describe the scientific and empirical support for their respective positions.

After going through these steps, participants who imagined their own death showed greater support for intelligent design and greater liking for Behe, or a rejection of evolution theory coupled with disliking for Dawkins, compared to participants in the control condition.

"Imagining" (emphasis mine) Your death is far, far, far away from anxiety! Anxiety and imagination are two totally different things. of course some people are afraid of their death and some might also feel a certain amount of fear but that's not the same feeling that you get when you have a real anxiety, lest alone an anxiety attack.
I could imagine that for religious people an increase in "woo" after an uncomfortable imaginative situation is reasonable. I could even assume that for irreligious people Behe's work might seem more likable.
But when it comes to anxiety attacks I would doubt these findings.
I could imagine that nonreligious people would show an increase in belief perhaps.

In a situation of tremendous fear...if you didn't believed in a god before ... you might be so desperate that you just want him to exist, want this life to not be over, want yourself to have a value that lasts beyond.

I would also think that religious people would display a decrease in belief.
In a situation of tremendous fear...if you believed in a god before ... you might realize that he is not there as you don't have the luxury to spend bran capacity imagining him.

Then again ........ i could be the well known exception to the rule that this study seems to formulate.

Finland: Anti-Gay Campaign Doubles Average Church Resignations

2011-04-01T01:52:00.000-07:00

(found after an initial tip scanning the blasphemieblog)
Sometimes it needs nonbelievers and rationality to get religious people out of churches. Often it's a hard and long process. Sometimes religious people alienate others from religion. Then it is a very short process.

In Finland the religious did something remarkably good (again). They told everybody that wanted to listen (and all those that didn't) that homosexuality would be bad and could be healed. And within days the flock started to flee.

Interestingly not only for the reason that the religion is against homosexuality but also in some cases for the reason that they are supposedly to liberal.

Resignees have given different reasons for their decision. Some have criticised the church’s perceived narrow-mindedness and discrimination against homosexuals, while others have said that their decision is for doctrinal reasons as the church is too liberal towards gay people.

Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

An article for your pleasure.

Belgian lawmakers pass burka ban

2011-04-01T01:39:00.000-07:00

As the BBC reports Belgium passes a law banning burqas.

Belgium's lower house of parliament has voted for a law that would ban women from wearing the full Islamic face veil in public.
The law would ban any clothing that obscures the identity of the wearer in places like parks and on the street. No-one voted against it.
The law now goes to the Senate, where it may face challenges over its wording, which may delay it.
If passed, the ban would be the first move of its kind in Europe.
Only around 30 women wear this kind of veil in Belgium, out of a Muslim population of around half a million.
The BBC's Dominic Hughes in Brussels says MPs backed the legislation on the grounds of security, to allow police to identify people.
Other MPs said that the full face veil was a symbol of the oppression of women, our correspondent says.
Senate approval
Thursday's vote was almost unanimous with 134 MPs in support of the law and two abstentions.
It is expected to pass through the Senate without being blocked, with initial reports saying it could come into law as early as June or July.
But the Liberals and Christian Democrats - both represented in the Senate - say they will question the phrasing of the law, which could cause delays.
It will also take longer to become law if elections are called, as parliament would have to be dissolved. The Belgium government collapsed last week.
The Muslim Executive of Belgium has criticised the move, saying it would lead to women who do wear the full veil to be trapped in their homes.
Amnesty International said a ban would set a "dangerous precedent".
In a statement, the human rights group said it would "violate the rights to freedom of expression and religion of those women who wear the burqa or niqab as an expression of their identity and beliefs".
The ban would be imposed in all buildings or grounds that are "meant for public use or to provide services", including streets, parks and sports grounds.
Exceptions could be made for certain festivals.
Those who break the law could face a fine of 15-25 euros (£13-£27) or a seven-day jail sentence.

An attack on personal freedoms or a protection of human rights? Your opinion about this?