{"id":140832,"date":"2024-03-29T20:55:00","date_gmt":"2024-03-29T21:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=140832"},"modified":"2024-03-30T02:52:35","modified_gmt":"2024-03-30T02:52:35","slug":"pro-palestine-protesters-sue-dallas-for-hijab-removal-while-in-custody-the-dallas-morning-news-bc-dallas-protesters-hijab-lawsuitda","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=140832","title":{"rendered":"Pro-Palestine protesters sue Dallas for hijab removal while in custody [The Dallas Morning News :: BC-DALLAS-PROTESTERS-HIJAB-LAWSUIT:DA]"},"content":{"rendered":"

DALLAS \u2014 Three women arrested during a pro-Palestine protest at Dallas Love Field airport<\/a> Jan. 8 are suing Dallas County, the Dallas County Sheriff\u2019s Office and three unnamed Dallas County correctional officers, saying they were ordered to remove their hijabs, or head scarves, for booking photos while in custody.<\/p>\n

The photos appeared in an NBC5 article<\/a> and were made available to agencies including the Texas Board of Law Examiners, according to the lawsuit filed Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Dallas Division. NBC5 later removed the photos from the story.<\/p>\n

A representative for the Dallas County Sheriff\u2019s Office declined to comment on the lawsuit, citing pending litigation. A representative for Dallas County Judge Clay Lewis Jenkins did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n

Forcing the three women \u2014 Donia El-Hussain and Tamera Hutcherson of Dallas County and Nidaa Lafi of Collin County \u2014 to remove their hijabs violated their First Amendment right to exercise their religion and caused emotional distress, humiliation and embarrassment, the suit said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis isn\u2019t a one-and-done incident,\u201d Lafi told The Dallas Morning News<\/em>. \u201cIf somebody runs a background check on me right now and on the other women, they\u2019re able to see those pictures.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt feels like a continuous disrespect of our religious obligations.\u201d<\/p>\n

El-Hussain and Hutcherson declined to speak with The News<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The suit seeks a trial by jury. It did not specify an amount for damages.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor someone who believes that they\u2019re religiously obligated to cover their hair, and that\u2019s a sacred part of their body \u2014 what number would you put on the government telling you to take your bra off and be photographed in front of a room of strangers?\u201d said Huma Yasin, one of three lawyers representing the women.<\/p>\n

Yasin said the suit is seeking a policy change that prevents the removal of religious garments for booking photos. \u201cThis is individually traumatizing, but it\u2019s also an opportunity to ensure that it doesn\u2019t happen again.\u201d<\/p>\n

The booking<\/h3>\n

The booking took place at the Lew Sterrett Justice Center, according to the suit. When ordered to remove her headscarf, Hutcherson told the officer it was part of her sincerely held religious beliefs, the suit said. The officer again ordered her to remove it, according to the suit, and she shook and cried while doing so.<\/p>\n

When Lafi and El-Hussain were told to remove their hijabs, they vehemently refused, the suit said. In response to protests from Lafi, an officer told her \u201cthis is part of the process. This can be either easy or difficult,\u201d according to the suit.<\/p>\n

Lafi and El-Hussain were then photographed in a common area visible to all officers, detainees and other passersby, the suit said.<\/p>\n

Yasin said her office previously sent a demand letter threatening to sue the Dallas County Sheriff\u2019s Office and received no reply.<\/p>\n

Thirteen protesters from organizations including the Palestinian Youth Movement were arrested Jan. 8 for trying to block entrance to Dallas Love Field airport<\/a>, where President Joe Biden was arriving to attend events honoring the late Dallas Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Nashwa Abdelwahed, a spokeswoman of the Palestinian Youth Movement, told The News <\/em>that people were protesting the president\u2019s arrival because \u201cBiden has essentially been aiding and abetting Israel\u2019s war crimes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not going to let any of these politicians rest, including Biden, while Palestinians have no justice,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

More than 32,000 Palestinians have been killed and 74,000 wounded in Gaza since October, according to The Associated Press<\/a>. More than 1 million displaced Palestinians<\/a> are sheltering in Rafah<\/a>, where Israel has plans to launch<\/a> a ground offensive, the news agency reported. No one in Gaza is food secure, and 677,000 people are in a state of famine and facing imminent starvation, according to recent data from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification<\/a> global initiative.<\/p>\n

\u2018It hasn\u2019t deterred any of us\u2019<\/h3>\n

Despite the incident described in the lawsuit, Lafi said, she has continued to attend area protests<\/a>, including one this month outside an aerospace and defense facility in Garland. Demonstrators accused the facility\u2019s company, General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems, of manufacturing and selling weapons used by the Israeli military.<\/p>\n

More than a dozen people were arrested, and some were forced to remove their hijabs for booking photos, according to the Council on American-Islamic Relations Dallas-Fort Worth chapter.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat happened was obviously a deeply traumatic event, and it\u2019s something that will have a long lasting impact on myself and the other women,\u201d Lafi said, referring to the January booking. \u201cBut at the same time, it hasn\u2019t deterred any of us, and I refuse to let it do so.\u201d<\/p>\n

Within the last year, Muslim women in other U.S. cities, including Grand Rapids, Mich.,<\/a> Bowling Green, Ky.<\/a> and Coram, N.Y.<\/a>, have also filed lawsuits after being forced to remove their hijabs.<\/p>\n

In January, a Tennessee woman reached a settlement with Rutherford County and members of the county\u2019s sheriff\u2019s office after she was forced to remove her hijab for a booking photo, The Tennessean<\/a> reported.<\/p>\n

As part of the settlement, the county agreed to an updated policy saying a person arrested or receiving a citation is not required to remove religious head coverings as long as their face and profile are visible, according to The Tennessean<\/em>. They also agreed to delete all photos and video of the woman in which she was not wearing her hijab and pay her $100,000.<\/p>\n

Joy Ashford covers faith and religion in North Texas for The Dallas Morning News through a partnership with Report for America.<\/em> <\/p>\n

__________<\/p>\n

\u00a92024 The Dallas Morning News. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.<\/p>\n

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DALLAS \u2014 Three women arrested during a pro-Palestine protest at Dallas Love Field airport Jan. 8 are suing Dallas County, the Dallas County Sheriff\u2019s Office and three unnamed Dallas County correctional officers, saying they were ordered to remove their hijabs, or head scarves, for booking photos while in custody. The photos appeared in an NBC5 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-140832","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140832","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=140832"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140832\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":140833,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140832\/revisions\/140833"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=140832"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=140832"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=140832"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}