Even though the burqini has been banned in over a dozen coastal towns in France, there's one man who says he'll stop at nothing to ensure women can have their freedom. Businessman Rachid Nekkaz has created a fund to pay for any fines incurred by women wearing burqinis, and has already helped several women by paying their €38 fine. "Everyone has the right to wear or not to wear the burqini," Nekkaz told The Local. Nekkaz called the burqini ban "symptomatic of the French government’s efforts to eliminate Islam, bit by bit, from the constitution", adding that the French government "wishes to battle against the visibility of Islam in France". In that same year, he also set up the ‘freedom defence fund’, worth €1 million, which paid the fines of women wearing the niqab after it was outlawed in France and Belgium.

Source: The Local August 22, 2016 15:45 UTC