Muslim Woman Sues Michigan Police for Violating Her Religious Freedom

Muslim woman Malak Kazan is 27, and belongs to Dearborn Heights. She is suing the police department here for violating her First Amendment rights.

She was arrested for having a suspended license, and was asked to remove her hijab, as she was told that she could not wear it while being processed and while she was in custody, according to ijreview.com.

Kazan is now filing a lawsuit against the police.

"I honestly don't want other women to be put in my position, where they are forced to take off their scarf in front of men they don't know," she said. "I've worn my scarf for 12 years and my religion says that I can't take it off. It's not just a religious issue; this is a part of me. It's my culture, my life and my identity," she told thinkprogress.com.

As Muslim women are particular about wearing it in public, in front of strange me, Kazan feels "humiliated" that she was forced to remove it. She said that her right to religious freedom has been violated.

"The main issue here is that my client's constitutional rights, her religious liberties, can't be stripped at the jailhouse door. She has an absolute right to maintain her faith," Kazan's attorney Amir Makled said. "We hope this cause of action will bring to light a policy that is dated and needs to be amended. ... We also hope to get some further diversity training for officers in the city. Hopefully this will be a learning experience for other law enforcement agencies."

Kazan is now taking the lawsuit before a federal judge, who will rule whether her hijab was a sign of religious violation or not. The lawsuit records: "wearing a head scarf is a reminder of her faith, the importance of modesty in her religion ... as well as a symbol of her own control over who may see the more intimate parts of her body. To have her hair and neck uncovered in public ... is ... deeply humiliating, violating, and defiling experience."

Dearborn Heights Police Chief Lee Garvin opposed the claim and explained that his police department did not have enough female officers who could help or adjust to her demands, and hence had to force her to remove her hijab, according to their safety concerns. "Articles such as hats, caps, hijabs, can contain concealable items that could pose a threat or chance of injury to the cops or to themselves," he said. Usually, they make Muslim women remove the hijab in the presence of a woman cop. But if they do not have enough female officers in their police station, their "Number one concern is security of our officers and the prisoners," Garvin said.

The lawsuit thus exposes what is more important----the rights of the accused or the rights of law enforcement. It brings to mind the hijab laws in France starting legal battles in the United States over laws violating the religious rights of Muslims.