BEIRUT // France's far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen refused on Tuesday to go into a meeting with Lebanon's grand mufti after his aides asked her to wear a headscarf.
When she arrived at the Beirut office of Sheikh Abdellatif Deryan — Lebanon's top Sunni Muslim cleric — the Front National (FN) candidate was offered a shawl to cover her hair.
She refused, saying she had met in the past with the grand mufti of Egypt's Al Azhar, Ahmed Al Tayeb, without wearing a veil.
"The highest Sunni authority in the world had not had this requirement, so I have no reason to," Ms Le Pen told journalists before leaving, referring to her 2015 visit to Al Azhar, the prestigious Egyptian institution of Sunni Islamic learning.
"But it does not matter. You will pass on to the grand mufti my consideration but I will not veil myself," she said.
"The mufti's office regrets this inappropriate behaviour in such meetings," according to a statement by Dar Al Fatwa, the highest Sunni authority in Lebanon, headed by Grand Mufti Deryan.
The organisation said it had informed the presidential candidate in advance through one of her aides "of the need to cover her head when she meets his eminence, according to the protocol assumed by Dar Al Fatwa".
Tuesday is Ms Le Pen's last day in Lebanon, where she met a foreign head of state for the first time — President Michel Aoun.
The FN leader, whose party takes an anti-immigrant stance, also met Lebanese prime minister Saad Hariri, a Sunni Muslim, and foreign minister Gebran Bassil.
Islamic dress is a hot-button issue in France, where the full-face veil is banned in public places.
Shunned by European leaders over her party's stance on immigration and its anti-EU message, Ms Le Pen's meeting with Mr Aoun aimed to boost her international credibility.
* Associated Press and Agence France-Presse
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