Algerian authorities has banned banned female public sector employees from wearing full-face veils, or niqabs, at work.
Prime Minister Ahmed Ouayhia publicized the decision in a letter to ministers and regional governors in the Muslim-majority country last Thursday.
Civil servants, he wrote, need to 'observe the rules and requirements of security and communication within their department'.
He said public sector workers needed to be able to be 'physically identifiable' while in the workplace.
The ban has been met with both positive and negative reactions on social media, with some hailing it as progressive while others called it an attempt to control women and what they choose to wear.
According to Arabic newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat, the ban was blasted by an Islamist MP as a 'declared war on Islam'. [Daily Mail] Read more
