04 May 2010

Banning hijab no rights violation, court says

Sheriff's deputies did not violate a Muslim woman's rights by forcing her to remove her hijab, a religiously mandated headscarf, in a courthouse holding cell, a federal appeals court in San Francisco ruled Monday.

Souhair Khatib sued Orange County for damages under a federal law that prohibits government agencies from imposing a "substantial burden" on the right to practice one's religion in a prison, jail or pretrial detention facility. She said her religion forbids her to expose her head or neck to men outside her immediate family. [The San Francisco Chronicle] Read more [via Islamophobia Watch]