Mariam says she wears the niqab, or full-length Islamic veil, by "personal choice" and for "religious conviction". From today, if she leaves her home in the Paris suburbs she will have to expose her face in public for the first time in five years.

"I have decided to obey the law but to leave home as little as possible," the 32-year-old said. "I accept that the law of France is the law, even though I think that it is foolish and wrong to force me to go against my beliefs."

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