the ban. Although the cases dated prior to the 2004 law, the Court rationale was consistent with the law: the ECHR held that the national authorities were obliged to take great care to ensure that (...) the manifestation by pupils of their religious beliefs on school premises did not take on the nature of an ostentatious act that would constitute a source of pressure and exclusion. In 2012, UN Human Rights Committee has found a violation of ICCPR in case of expulsion of a Sikh from a school based on the 2004 law. Controversies over legal prohibition On 12 August 2016, the mayor of Cannes in southern France banned full-body swimsuits, also called "burkinis", from the beach, arguing that it was considered a symbol of Islamic extremism and might spark tensions. Shortly after, on a Nice beach, four armed police officers forced a Muslim woman to take off her burkini. A photo of the incident spread quickly and led to criticism of the ban. The woman was fined 38 euro for wearing the burkini, and four other women were fined 38 euros for wearing their burkinis on the beach in Cannes. On 25 August 2016, the Human Rights League and anti-Islamophobia groups described the ban as a dangerous and illegal threat on basic freedoms, particularly freedom of belief and religion. The UN, Spain, Italy, Germany, and Canada have criticised and ruled out France's ban on the burkini, claiming it is a very clear violation of human rights, and it does not respect Muslim women's dignity or modesty. At least two other cities in France followed with similar bans, and one of these laws was appealed to the Conseil d’Etat, who overturned the bans. Immediately after, the burkini ban in Cannes was overturned by a court in Nice. Alma and Lila Lévy Alma and Lila Lévy are sisters who rose to fame at the centre of the French controversy over the veil in 2003 when they were expelled from school. The controversial expulsion of the Lévy sisters from Lycée Henri-Wallon, in the suburb of Aubervilliers of Paris, ignited an international debate. The Lévy sisters were expelled for wearing the hijab. The girls' father, Laurent Lévy, a Jewish French lawyer, was quick to point out the antisemitic furore regarding the media's focus on his ethnicity, "I am Jewish by Vichy rules." In an interview with the BBC, he explained that his ex-wife,