French citizenship ban on man who forced wife to wear veil

France's prime minister Francois Fillon has said he would sign a decree denying nationality to the man who admitted forcing his French wife to wear a burka-style veil over her face.

Mr Fillon says French law allows authorities to refuse nationality applications from those who do not respect the country's values of secularism.

French immigration minister Eric Besson said on Tuesday he had signed a decree that would deny the unidentified man's application on the grounds he rejected secularism and gender equality. Reports suggest he is from Morocco.

France is currently considering whether to ban face-covering Muslim veils.

A recent parliamentary inquiry, conducted over six months, advised residence cards and citizenship should be refused to foreign women who insist on wearing the veil and anyone with visible signs of a "radical religious practice".

It followed an announcement by President Nicolas Sarkozy last June that such garb "is not welcome" on French territory.

But the issue is politically sensitive with religious leaders complaining the country's estimated five million Muslims are being unfairly targeted.

The veil is widely viewed in France as a gateway to extremism, an insult to gender equality and an offence to France's secular foundation. The parliamentary commission last month said it should be banned from all public services, including mass transport and hospitals, but stopped short of a calling for a total ban on its use in private or in the street.

A 2004 French law outlawed Muslim headscarves from primary and secondary school classrooms.