A 29-year-old Muslim woman who was forced by deputies to remove her religious head covering while she was in custody in San Bernardino County's West Valley Detention Center, filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court on december07 asserting that her religious freedom rights were violated under the First Amendment by San Bernardino county sheriff's deputies.
Jameelah Medina, of Rialto, was arrested at the Pomona station of Metrolink's commuter rail system on Dec. 7, 2005, for having an invalid train pass. She was taken to the West Valley Detention Center in Rancho Cucamonga for processing.Medina, who was born in the United States and raised in a Muslim family, wears hijab to cover her hair, ears, neck and part of her chest.
Muslim women, like Medina, believe that they should be covered at all times in the presence of men who are not members of their immediate family.Despite her constant requests to keep her head covered during her day-long incarceration, she was forced to remove her hijab in the presence of men she did not know and to remain uncovered for much of the day.
Medina was never prosecuted in connection with this arrest.The lawsuit is being filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Southern California.
"Other correctional systems, including the federal prisons, allow women to wear headscarves when they are in jail or prison, and San Bernardino County violated Jameelah Medina's rights when they didn't allow her to do so. If other jurisdictions can do it, so too can San Bernardino." Said the lawyer representing Medina in this case.
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هناك تعليقان (2):
Personally, I do not believe that the scarf is required according to the tenets of the Muslim religion. I think it is a pagan custom which preceded Islam. However, some Muslims believe that it is necessary to cover a woman not only through the Hijab but also through the Nekab. How do you think the police would be able to do its job in the case of the Nekab?
it is not necessary to have Nekab in islam, however hijab is required for all muslim females. Do they have to see her hair in order to do their jobs? it is clear that it's not about "doing their job" but about their feeling towards muslims and arabs. Let's put it this way, how about they leave their feeling home when they start their shift.
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