A Muslim woman in Fayette County, Kentucky was allegedly forced to remove her hijab following her arrest and booking at the Fayette County Detention Center this past Monday.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) is now calling for redress through an investigation on the alleged mistreatment of the Muslim woman, CAIR stated in a Friday press release.
National deputy director of CAIR Edward Ahmed Mitchell sent a letter to Col. Scott Colvin, executive director of the Fayette County Detention Center, and University of Kentucky police Chief Joseph Monroe asking that they further investigate and “establish clear policies permitting people of faith to keep their hijabs and other religiously required hair coverings on while in detention.”
“She said, ‘I’m Muslim. I’m wearing this for religious reasons. Please respect my rights,’ but her rights were sadly not respected,” Edward Ahmed Mitchell, the national deputy director of CAIR said to LEX 18.
According to CAIR, the woman, an immigrant Iraqi physician, was allegedly stopped by University of Kentucky police due to not having her headlights on. She was subsequently arrested due to an unpaid fine from 2021 that had not been resolved, LEX 18 reported.
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CAIR stated that the woman was handcuffed and detained for hours, as well as forced to take off her hijab in a public hall for a booking photo despite requests to be taken to a private place. The woman also told CAIR that she was asked multiple times what her religion was by officers and put in a room that had a half wall that did not cover her head.
“I was forced to sit bent over for a long time which I couldn’t hold very long,” the woman told CAIR. “Then I used my dress as a headscarf to be able to sit straight and without back pain…I truly feel terrorized, terrified and abused by those officers.”
Colvin said in a statement that he will commit to a transparent review of the incident when the allegations are made known to him, the Lexington Herald Leader reported.
“If that review indicates that a policy or practice revision is needed, it will be made, and staff trained,” Colvin said in the statement. “Members of this division are professionally committed to the preservation and protection of an individual’s rights and their dignity when placed in our custody.”
The woman was released on a $100 bond, and all the charges against her were dismissed prior to an arraignment on Thursday, CAIR reported.
“We live in a society where there are people whose rights are affected every day,” Roula Allouch, the woman’s attorney and former chair of CAIR’s national board said to the Lexington Herald Leader. “We need to hold our government representatives accountable to ensure that they are following the law.”
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