A Muslim whose religious practice requires that she cover her head in public sued the Orange County Sheriff’s Department on Tuesday, alleging her rights were violated when jail officials forced her to remove a head scarf while locked up for about eight hours.
Souhair Khatib filed suit in U.S. District Court in Santa Ana, alleging that her right to practice her religion had been violated, causing her “extreme mental and emotional distress.” Named in the complaint, filed by the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Southern California, were Sheriff Michael S. Carona, the captain in charge of courtroom deputies and Orange County. Khatib, 32, of Anaheim, said she filed the lawsuit to make other Muslim women in the U.S. aware of their right to religious freedom.
ACLU attorney Hector Villagra said jail officials ordered Khatib’s hijab removed because they said it could be used to choke someone. But Villagra said a woman in the holding cell with Khatib was wearing fishnet stockings that were not confiscated and could have also been used as a weapon. The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages and requests that Orange County Jail officials allow the use of religious head coverings.
A woman felt “violated” when a man pulled off her religious headscarf – hijab – as she walked along a north Wales street pushing a pushchair.
A barrister is aiming to become the country’s first woman Muslim MP.
“A Muslim teenager has been named as one of the ‘babies on the beat’ as police community support officers. The Daily Mail revealed on Monday how Thames Valley police were employing two 16-year-old school-leavers as PCSOs. Yesterday it emerged that the force also recruited three 17-year-olds, including Nadia Naeem, now 18, who wears the hijab. All now have the power to detain and question suspects.”
Edinburgh’s bus drivers have been told they will not have to ask Muslim women to remove their veils after all.
“… burqas and niqabs should be banned in all public spaces because they present a security risk. Anyone might lurk under those shrouds – female or male, Muslim or non-Muslim, decent citizen or criminal – with who knows what evil purposes….