An African American woman wearing hijab photo credit: Dexter Browne
Valentine’s husband, Omar Hall said she told the bailiff that she had been in courtrooms before with the scarf on and that removing it would be a religious violation. When she turned to leave and uttered an expletive, Hall said a bailiff handcuffed her and dragged her into the judge’s chamber. She was ordered to serve 10 days in jail for contempt of court.
Mr. Hall, said his wife was accompanying her nephew to a traffic citation hearing when officials stopped her at the metal detector and told her she would not be allowed in the courtroom with the head scarf, known as a hijab.
Ms. Valentine violated a court policy that prohibits people from wearing any headgear in court, police said after they arrested her. She who recently moved to Georgia from Connecticut, said the incident reminded her of stories she’d heard of the civil rights-era South.
"I just felt stripped of my civil, my human rights," she said Wednesday from her home. She said she was unexpectedly released after the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations urged federal authorities to investigate the incident as well as others in Georgia.
Although Ms. Valentine was sentenced to jailed for 10 days, she was released on Wednesday. Officials declined to say why she was freed and municipal Court Judge Keith Rollins said that "it would not be appropriate" for him to comment on the case.
The same judge was accused in the past for barring another Muslim woman from entering a courtroom because she would not remove her head scarf.
There are no complaints against this judge for barring men with kipa or yarmulkes.
Sound Off:
No related posts.
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
