France is to refuse to grant citizenship to a Moroccan man who forces his wife to wear the full veil, arguing that his adherence to a strict strand of Islam is incompatible with the country's values, the immigration minister said today.

Eric Besson said he had signed a decree explaining that the man, whose identity was not made public, was being denied citizenship because his behaviour towards his French wife contravened secularism and women's rights.

"It emerged during the inquiry and the interview process that this person forced his wife to wear the full veil, deprived her of freedom of movement with her face exposed and rejected the principles of secularism and equality between men and women," Besson said in a statement.

According to Le Figaro, which obtained a copy of the ruling handed down by the council of state, France's highest legal body, the man behaved towards women in a way which made him "incompatible" with the values of France.

"Monsieur X displays in an everyday manner a discriminatory attitude towards women, going as far as refusing to shake their hands and advocating the separation of boys and girls including, at home, of brothers and sisters," the ruling read.

"The lifestyle he has chosen may be justified by religious precepts but is incompatible with the values of the Republic, notably the principle of equality of the sexes."

This is not the first time France has cited the niqab – a veil that leaves only the wearer's eyes showing – as grounds for the refusal of citizenship. In 2008, a Moroccan woman, Faiza Silmi, was told she could not become French because her veil and "radical" interpretation of Islam were obstacles to assimilation.

Last week, a committee of MPs voted to support a parliamentary resolution condemning the niqab, and called for a ban on the garment in public facilities such as hospitals and post offices, and on public transport. They shied away, however, from recommending a ban on women covering their faces anywhere in public.

The decision to reject the application for citizenship comes after a demand last month by the justice minister, Michele Alliot-Marie, that Muslim men who force their wives to wear the full veil be denied the right to become French.

Amid debate over the niqab in December, the interior minister, Brice Hortefeux, echoed her sentiments, saying that allowing supporters of the full veil into "the national community" was not a "desirable" course of action.

"Nothing would be more normal than to systematically refuse access to residency permits to the person wearing the veil and to her husband," he said.