Spain's Parliament on Tuesday rejected a proposal to ban women from wearing in public places Islamic veils.

Following a lower chamber debate, 183 lawmakers opposed the ban, 162 voted for it and two abstained.

The nonbinding proposal had been put forward by the leading opposition Popular Party. The ruling Socialist Party opposed the ban.

"It is very difficult to understand how it is that our troops are defending liberty in Afghanistan and the government doesn't have the courage to do so here, in Spain," said opposition spokeswoman Soraya Saenz de Santamaria in Parliament.

Women's and Muslim groups say only a handful of women in Spain wear the niqab, and perhaps none use the burqa.

Laure Rodriguez Quiroga, head of the Union for Muslim Women in Spain, said, "mot identifying yourself in a public building is, quite rightly, already illegal in Spain. We do not need a specific bill regarding the burqa or niqab."

Muslim Moors had ruled Spain until the late 15th century in a country whose some locals forcibly converted into christianity to escape brutality and death in past.


Agencies