Lawsuit: NYC to Pay $17.5 Million After Muslim Women Forced to Remove Hijabs for Mugshots

n Iraqi veiled woman covers her face with her hand, March 9, 2005 in Baghdad, Iraq. As vio
Ghaith Abdul-Ahad/Getty Images
Amy Furr

New York City has agreed to pay a whopping settlement after a pair of women claimed their rights were violated when they were forced to remove their hijabs for mugshots.

A hijab is not a full-body garment. It covers only the hair and neck.

The city said it will fork over the $17.5 million settlement, which still needs approval from Judge Analisa Torres of U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, the New York Times reported Friday.

The case surrounds a 2018 class-action lawsuit involving a pair of Muslim women identified as Jamilla Clark and Arwa Aziz.

“Damages from the settlement, which total just over $13 million once administrative costs and lawyers’ fees are deducted, will be split among the thousands of people who are expected to file eligible claims,” the Times report continued:

Ms. Clark, who was arrested on a violation of an order of protection in Manhattan in 2017, said she “wept and begged to put her hijab back on” while standing in Police Headquarters at One Police Plaza with the head scarf around her shoulders, according to the complaint.

Ms. Aziz, who was also arrested on a violation of an order of protection, said she had a similar experience eight months later when she was arrested in Brooklyn. She sobbed as she “stood with her back to the wall, in full view of approximately one dozen male N.Y.P.D. officers and more than 30 male inmates,” the complaint said.

The report also noted that the police department changed its policy in 2020 so religious individuals could wear head coverings as long as their faces could be seen clearly.
In 2018, New York City came to an $180,000 settlement with three Muslim women who sued police for making them remove their hijabs in order take have their mugshots taken, Breitbart News reported at the time.

“Each woman received a $60,000 settlement,” Breitbart News said, adding, “In Islam, it is considered sacrilegious to remove the headscarf of a Muslim woman by force. It is typical for only a Muslim woman’s husband or her family members to see her without her headscarf.”

A BBC report from February highlighted three Iranian women who are defying their country’s theocratic government by leaving their homes in the capital of Tehran without wearing head coverings.

One of the women, identified as 20-year-old Donya, said, “It’s very scary. Because they can arrest you any minute and fine you. Or torture you with lashes. The usual penalty if you’re arrested is 74 lashes.”

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