Students sue Arizona State University police after being forced to remove hijabs

Four Muslim women arrested during a pro-Palestine student encampment at Arizona State University (ASU) last year have filed a lawsuit accusing campus police and other authorities of violating their constitutional rights by forcibly removing their hijabs and keeping them uncovered for more than 24 hours.

The lawsuit, first reported by The Arizona Republic, was filed in July and centers on the April 26, 2024, raid on the encampment. According to court documents, ASU police, acting under orders from the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office, forced several women in custody to remove their hijabs after dozens of protesters were charged with trespassing and taken to jail.

Among those subjected to the removal were Fatima Jabardi, Noor Odeh, Noura Abdalla, and Salam Jabaieh, who said they were left exposed on the journey to jail and throughout their detention until their release the following evening. The plaintiffs argue that the forced removal left them with lasting trauma, describing “mental anguish, physical and emotional distress, humiliation and embarrassment.”

The filing stressed that “at no time were Plaintiffs violent, disruptive or dangerous. At no time did Plaintiffs assault, harass or otherwise intimidate anyone.”

The hijab, a religious head covering worn by Muslim women, is widely recognized under US law as protected religious attire. Advocacy groups and civil rights lawyers have long argued that forcing women to remove it in the presence of unrelated men is both a profound violation of privacy and a breach of First Amendment rights.

“This is not about a trespass. This is about speech,” attorney David Chami, who is representing the women, told AZFamily, a CBS News affiliate. “There was absolutely no justification for stripping those women of their religious head coverings. It would be like stripping somebody who’s not a Muslim, a woman having her top and bra removed in public. I mean, it is that level of humiliation.”

The Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office policy states that detainees should be granted “reasonable accommodations” for religious garments, and that removal should last only as long as necessary. Yet, the women were kept without their hijabs until after their release.

Cases of police forcing hijab removal are not uncommon in the United States, with similar incidents reported in New York, California, Minnesota, and Arizona in recent years. Most have been settled privately.

The four plaintiffs are now seeking both compensatory and punitive damages, as well as a declaration from the court that their constitutional rights were violated.