France: School orders Muslim pupil to shave his beard or face expulsion over radicalisation fears

A MUSLIM pupil was threatened with expulsion for refusing shave his beard after his headmaster deemed the facial hair a “sign of radicalisation”.

The student, who did not want to named for fear of “stigmatised even more”, told his headmaster he was growing the facial hair for religious purposes.

When recalling the conversation he had with his headmaster, the 21-year-old, (how old is the school leaving age in France? or was something lost in translation. Although these children we are getting in the UK from the French camps look a lot older than even 21) from Saint Denis, Paris, said: “The Prophet was wearing one. It is something important to me.

“He [the headmaster] gave me a few days for reflection to see if I change my mind and shave [the beard… but I will not!” He admitted to missing lessons to go to Friday prayers and did not shake the hands of his fellow pupils for “decency” reasons. The unnamed pupil said he had previously agreed to stop wearing harem pants at his headmaster’s request as he agreed they could be interpreted as a religious dress wear.