Santa Clara County has agreed to pay $90,000 to a Muslim woman who said her hijab was inappropriately removed when she was being booked into jail last year.
Asia Aden had called the sheriff’s office for a domestic-violence incident. However was in possession of a bat, presumably for self-defense, so she was arrested and taken to the Elmwood Correctional Facility in Milpitas, reports NBC Bay Area. It was there that a deputy “yanked” off her hijab to photograph her, according to an Aug. 3 statement from the San Francisco Bay Area chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. The Sheriff’s Department, which runs the jail, has denied the deputy used force to remove the hijab.
She was not allowed to have her hijab while spending three days in jail, alleges the council, and was eventually not charged.
To settle her complaint, the county announced today (Nov. 20) that it will write her a check for $90,000. Also, the sheriff’s office will also work with the Council on American-Islamic Relations to better implement its religious service policy.
The religious service policy allows Muslim women to keep their hijabs or receive a jail-issued religious covering and to be searched in private or outside the presence of men.
“We urge more municipalities to follow Santa Clara County’s example by reviewing and implementing policies to ensure everyone’s constitutional rights are protected, regardless of faith,” said Council on American-Islamic Relations lawyer Jeffrey Wang.
For 90,000 dollars I’d wear a hijab and I’m not even a Muslim or a woman. It’s easy to make money off the county these days.