UK minister backs university ban on Muslim veils

LONDON, Oct 11 (Reuters) A British education minister said today he backed universities that banned Islamic students from wearing veils, becoming the latest senior figure to step into a high profile row that has enraged some Muslim groups.

Higher Education Minister Bill Rammell said many teachers felt ''uncomfortable'' teaching students who wore a full veil and said he supported London's Imperial College which had banned students wearing any garment that covered the face.

''Imperial College recently banned the face veil and I think that this is arguably the best decision,'' Rammell told the London Evening Standard.

''I'm not dictating hard and fast rules, as dress codes are a matter for university authorities.'' Unlike some other European countries -- such as France which limits the wearing of traditional headscarves in schools -- Britain generally does not place restrictions on Islamic dress.

Controversy over veils erupted last week when Jack Straw, the leader of the House of Commons, said Muslim women who wore full veils made community relations more difficult.

He said he would prefer women did not wear them because they acted as ''a visible statement of separation and difference''.

Prime Minister Tony Blair yester said he backed Mr Straw, his former foreign secretary, for raising an important issue in a ''sensible and measured way'' although he avoided saying whether he agreed with him.

The debate comes amid warnings of increasing alienation and radicalisation among the country's 1.8 million Muslims.

The government is seeking to improve integration in the wake of last year's suicide bomb attacks by four British Islamists which killed 52 in London.

Many commentators and some senior government figures, including Finance Minister Gordon Brown, Blair's likely successor, have backed Straw, saying the full veil was a factor in community relations.

Salman Rushdie, who lived in hiding for years because his book ''The Satanic Verses'' prompted a 1989 Iranian decree that he should be killed for blasphemy, said Mr Straw was ''expressing an important opinion which is that veils suck, which they do.'' However many Muslim groups reacted with anger, describing the views as ''offensive and disturbing'' and saying veils were worn by only a tiny minority of women.

Britain's largest Muslim organisation, the Muslim Council of Britain, warned the debate would play into the hands of those with ''bigoted'' views.

Reuters SHB DB2134