Germany: he refuses to shake a woman’s hand, his naturalization is rejected

A knockout handshake. The administrative court in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, has just rejected a man’s application for naturalization because he refused to shake a woman’s hand, reports German radio Deutsche Welle.

Arrived in Germany in 2002, where he studied, this 40-year-old Lebanese doctor began the process of becoming a citizen in 2012 and passed the naturalization tests with flying colors, achieving the best scores. But, the day of the delivery of his certificate, in 2015, he refused the hand which extended to him the official in charge of the file, in particular for religious reasons. The latter therefore did not wish to give him the official document.

Shaking hands with women, “a danger of sexual temptation”

Furious at this decision, the doctor then decided to seize the administrative court of Stuttgart, before appealing to the administrative court of Baden-Württemberg. But the latter decided, on October 17, to in turn reject his request for naturalization, proposing to bring the case before the federal administrative court, tells the German media.

Before the judge, the man wanted to justify his gesture by explaining that this refusal to shake a woman’s hand was a promise made to his wife. He added that he also did not shake hands with men. But, for the court, the Lebanese doctor would have refused this gesture because he considers the women as “a danger of sexual temptation”. A position which goes against the principle of equality enshrined in the German Constitution and which represents a “fundamentalist conception of culture and values” as well as a rejection of “the integration of German living conditions”, has ruled the Court.