The San Francisco Bay Area office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations ?CAIR-SFBA?, has called on the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors and the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office to take action, after of reporting an incident of the forcible removal of hijab by a Santa Clara police officer from a Muslim woman while in custody.
The country's largest Muslim civil rights and defense organization detailed in a statement that the measures should include a public apology and a monetary settlement.
«It has happened again! A few years after the last incident, deputies from the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office forcibly removed the hijab from a Muslim woman."
CAIR-SFBA explained that when sheriff's deputies jailed Asia Aden, a local Muslim woman, they forced her to remove her hijab, photographed her without it, and did not return it to her for three days while she was in jail.
They added that Ms Aden explained to the officers that she was wearing the hijab for religious reasons and that it was against her beliefs to remove it in front of men who were not her relatives, but to no avail. Even so, they said, her hijab was forcibly removed - it was ripped off her head - and she was not provided with anything else to cover her, despite her repeated requests.
“I have always held law enforcement in high regard for the important and difficult work they do. Unfortunately that has changed as this traumatic experience has broken me to the core. I decided to share my story in hopes of protecting the right of all Americans to freely practice their religion, including a woman's right to wear a hijab. No one should experience such a serious violation of their constitutional rights as I do," Aden said.
"I want to prevent anyone else from being humiliated and disgraced like me. I want to make sure the Sheriff's Office is held accountable for their actions."
The organization pointed out that “the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors must put an end to these repeated violations of civil rights in our county. We urge the county to delete all electronic records of Ms. Aden's punch photo, apologize to her, pay her for the severe emotional distress she has caused her, and retrain all of her officers. It's enough".
CAIR-SFBA senior civil rights attorney Jeffrey Wang said, "It is appalling that the Sheriff's Office, which serves a geographic region where thousands of Muslims reside, would again allow its deputies to strip a Muslim woman of her headscarf. religious and violate their constitutional rights.
This was not the first such incident to occur in Elmwood, but it must be the last. Santa Clara County and the Sheriff's Office promised to implement policy changes and training in 2021, and now we are left questioning their effectiveness."
For its part, the Santa Clara Sheriff's Office denied the facts through a statement, and argued that said garments, such as the hijab, should be reviewed.
"The Sheriff's Office received the complaint and reviewed the surveillance footage. No force was used to remove the hijab and, in fact, the complainant was asked to remove it herself," the Sheriff's public information office said.
“In general, these garments should be checked upon entering the facility before they are returned or another is issued. The Sheriff's Office is committed to protecting the religious rights of the people while ensuring the safety of everyone on the premises," he explained.
According to the Sheriff's Office, its collaboration with CAIR after a similar concern in 2021, led to the creation of its "Religious Practices policy" to ensure that anyone wearing a hijab, kufi, turban or yarmulke is "reasonably accommodated, subject to compelling conditions”. interest in the security of the facilities or to prevent self-harm”.
"Reservations staff received information regarding the policy update," the Sheriff's Office added.
With information from Bay City News.
This publication was supported in whole or part by funding provided by the State of California, ayou administeredred by the CaliFornia State Library.
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