'already oppressed'
    I would say the ban empowers these oppressed women. They have to show their faces under the law, therefore their men and other family members cannot force them to cover their faces while expecting them to live in the western world, go out, claim all the benefits that come with it. And still follow oppressive Arab cultural practices.
   Being from that part of the world, I know niqab or burqa has nothing to do with the religion just with culture.
     When these Muslim Imams etc. and women like the article writer claim
niqab is religious, reminds me of the professor in St. Johns Newfoundland who refused to help a deaf student on her religious basis, by wearing a little gadget around her neck so that he could hear her and learn better.