Muslim woman who was forced to remove her hijab awarded $85,000

Lifestyle

Published: 2017-08-11 14:02

Last Updated: 2024-03-18 05:09


Kristy Powell was awarded $85,000 after LA police forcibly removed her hijab (Photo courtesy of CAIR)
Kristy Powell was awarded $85,000 after LA police forcibly removed her hijab (Photo courtesy of CAIR)

An $85,000 settlement was awarded to a Muslim woman who was forced to remove her hijab in Long Beach in the United States.

Kirsty Powell, an African American Muslim, filed a complaint in November 2016 after male policemen used force to arrest her and remove her hijab in front of male inmates. This came even though she told the officers “that she wears a hijab in accordance with her religious practice and that it is her legal right to wear it,” She was kept in custody for 24 hours without it.

“She was held in the jail overnight, forced to sit in a cell feeling distraught, vulnerable and naked without her headscarf to everyone that passed,” the lawsuit said, reports the LA Times.

She was arrested during a routine ID check in May 2015, on three misdemeanor warrants for petty theft, vehicle theft and resisting arrest, police said to LA Times.

“Powell was not aware that a warrant had been issued for a 2002 petty theft offense, her attorney said. The other warrants were issued after Powell’s sister had falsely used her name, according to the federal lawsuit.”

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) intervened, and the $85,000 settlement was approved on Tuesday. CAIR also stated that other counties within the Los Angeles area had amended their laws to guarantee the right to wear a hijab while detained.