A wealthy businessman has paid fines imposed on three women who defied France’s burkini ban, and also offered to pay for other people charged under the new law.

Rachid Nekkaz, a real-estate entrepreneur of Algerian descent, said he personally opposes the burkini and niqab, but believes that within a democracy nobody has the right to prevent another person from wearing the clothing they choose. “Provided that this clothing is not a threat to freedom of others or the security of the territory.”

“As soon as I see that France is not respecting fundamental liberties, I always get my cheque book out,” he said, in an interview with the Telegraph.

In 2010, Mr Nekkaz, who grew up in a Paris suburb but renounced his French citizenship in 2013, set up a €1m "freedom defence fund" to pay the fines of women who chose to continue wearing the niqab after it was outlawed in France and Belgium. He has paid out more than £200,000 to help Muslim women who defied the ban on face coverings.

The burkini, a full body swimsuit which allows orthodox Muslim women to swim without exposing their bodies, has been banned in the French beach resorts of Sisco, Cannes, and Nice. At least four women have been fined for defying the new rule and at least six others have been stopped and asked to leave the beach, but were not fined because they complied.

Nice justified the ban by describing the burkini as clothing which “overtly manifests adherence to a religion at a time when France and places of worship are the target of terrorist attacks.”

The mayor of Cannes said last week when he announced his ban on burkinis, which are worn by very few women in France, he was simply forbidding “a uniform that is the symbol of Islamist extremism.”

Critics say the ban is islamophobic, misogynistic and misguided.

French film star Isabelle Adjani condemned the ban as “ridiculous and dangerous”, and said it was playing into the hands of Islamists and the far-right.

In pictures: Bastille Day Nice attack Show all 30 1 /30 In pictures: Bastille Day Nice attack In pictures: Bastille Day Nice attack A man reacts near bouquets of flowers near the scene where a truck ran into a crowd at high speed killing scores and injuring more who were celebrating the Bastille Day national holiday in Nice Reuters In pictures: Bastille Day Nice attack A woman arrives with a toy and a bouquet of flowers as people pay tribute near the scene where a truck ran into a crowd in Nice Reuters In pictures: Bastille Day Nice attack A woman reacts as she places flowers in front of the memorial set on the 'Promenade des Anglais' where the truck crashed into the crowd during the Bastille Day celebrations in Nice EPA In pictures: Bastille Day Nice attack People gather to view the floral tributes near the site of the truck attack in the French resort city of Nice AP In pictures: Bastille Day Nice attack A man reacts near bouquets of flowers as people pay tribute near the scene where a truck ran into a crowd at high speed killing scores and injuring more who were celebrating the Bastille Day national holiday, in Nice Reuters In pictures: Bastille Day Nice attack Floral tributes are laid out near the site of the truck attack in the French resort city of Nice AP In pictures: Bastille Day Nice attack A child's toy is placed among the floral tributes laid out near the site of the truck attack in the French resort city of Nice AP In pictures: Bastille Day Nice attack Investigators continue at the scene near the heavy truck that ran into a crowd at high speed killing scores who were celebrating the Bastille Day in Nice Reuters In pictures: Bastille Day Nice attack Crime scene investigators work on the 'Promenade des Anglais' after the truck crashed into the crowd during the Bastille Day celebrations in Nice EPA In pictures: Bastille Day Nice attack A forensic expert examines dead bodies covered with a blue sheet on the Promenade des Anglais seafront in the French Riviera city of Nice Getty Images In pictures: Bastille Day Nice attack A forensic expert evacuates a dead body on the Promenade des Anglais seafront in the French Riviera city of Nice, after a gunman smashed a truck into a crowd of revellers celebrating Bastille Day Getty Images In pictures: Bastille Day Nice attack A man reacts as he sits near a French flag along the beachfront the day after a truck ran into a crowd at high speed killing scores celebrating the Bastille Day in Nice Reuters In pictures: Bastille Day Nice attack Discarded items are left on the beach, not far from the site of the truck attack in the French resort city of Nice AP In pictures: Bastille Day Nice attack Bullet holes in the windscreen of the lorry that was driven into the crowd at high speed Reuters In pictures: Bastille Day Nice attack A man walks through debris on the street in Nice, France, the morning after a lorry ran into a crowd, killing at least 84 and injuring 50 Reuters In pictures: Bastille Day Nice attack Rescue workers help an injured woman to get in a ambulance AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Bastille Day Nice attack Authorities investigate a truck after it plowed through Bastille Day revelers in the French resort city of Nice, France AP In pictures: Bastille Day Nice attack Celebrations of Bastille Day were targeted by the lorry driver AP In pictures: Bastille Day Nice attack People cross the street with their hands on thier heads as a French soldier secures the area after at least 84 people were killed along the Promenade des Anglais in Nice Reuters In pictures: Bastille Day Nice attack A paramedic attends one of the dozens of people injured in the Nice Bastille Day attack In pictures: Bastille Day Nice attack Soldiers march on street where the lorry crashed into the crowd REUTERS In pictures: Bastille Day Nice attack A man sits next to a body seen on the ground after at least 84 people were killed in Nice, when a truck ran into a crowd celebrating the Bastille Day national holiday Reuters In pictures: Bastille Day Nice attack Bodies are seen on the ground after at least 84 people were killed in Nice, when a truck ran into a crowd celebrating the Bastille Day national holiday Reuters In pictures: Bastille Day Nice attack Children were among the 84 killed in the atrocity, with around 50 more hospitalised Reuters In pictures: Bastille Day Nice attack French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve (2nd L) speaks to the media in Nice AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Bastille Day Nice attack A man walks with his hands up as police officers carry out checks on people in the centre of French Riviera town of Nice AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Bastille Day Nice attack With injured people laying in the street police and onlookers react near to a truck in Nice AP In pictures: Bastille Day Nice attack Police officers, firefighters and rescue workers are seen at the site of the attack AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Bastille Day Nice attack Police officers speak with a soldier after a truck that ploughed into a crowd leaving a fireworks display in the French Riviera town of Nice AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Bastille Day Nice attack Police shine a light into the cab as they approach the driver's cab of a truck, in Nice AP

“I am always uneasy when we try to impose liberty by banning things,” she said. “We can’t forbid women from going to the beach because of a costume.”

Meanwhile, Mr Nekkaz, 44, likened the ban to saying you are not allowed to be a Muslim in France.

But Mr Nekkaz has been accused of exploiting the veil ban to raise his political profile. He attempted to contest the French presidency in 2007 and 2012 but didn't have enough support to stand.

In 2013, Mr Nekkaz was given an 18-month suspended prison sentence and a 5,000 euro fine for attempting to buy a sponsorship required under French law for presidential candidates.He claimed he was trying to demonstrate the fragility of the French electoral system.