Georgia judge jails Muslim woman over headscarf

[Penny Lane]

Ga. judge jails Muslim woman over head scarf
ATLANTA (AP) — A Georgia judge ordered a Muslim woman arrested Tuesday for contempt of court for refusing to take off her head scarf at a security checkpoint.

The judge ordered Lisa Valentine, 40, to serve 10 days in jail, said police in Douglasville, a city of about 20,000 people on Atlanta's west suburban outskirts.

Valentine violated a court policy that prohibits people from wearing any headgear in court, police said.

The Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations urged federal authorities to investigate the incident as well as others in Georgia.
"I just felt stripped of my civil, my human rights," Valentine told The Associated Press on Wednesday from her home, after she said she was unexpectedly released once CAIR got involved. Jail officials declined to say why she was freed.

Municipal Court Judge Keith Rollins said that "it would not be appropriate" for him to comment on the case.

Last year, a judge in Valdosta in southern Georgia barred a Muslim woman from entering a courtroom because she would not remove her head scarf. There have been similar cases in other states, including Michigan, where a Muslim woman in Detroit filed a federal lawsuit in February 2007 after a judge dismissed her small-claims court case when she refused to remove a head and face veil.

Valentine's husband, Omar 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.

Hall said Valentine, an insurance underwriter, 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 took her before the judge.


Ga. judge jails Muslim woman over head scarf - USATODAY.com

[Sweetie]

Sounds like she was arrested for verbally attacking an officer of the court, and not because she wouldn't remove her headscarf.
That's normal, so I don't feel sorry for her.

[Mel1973]

no pity here either.

[Grimmlok]

Wearing it is not, NOT religiously mandated. it's a cultural thing.

[twitchy2.0]

Wonder if the bailiff is lying about her swearing.

[january]

Its a social taboo to take off the scarf once you have committed to wearing it, in the presence of any male who is not an immediate relative. I have known of women who stopped wearing the headscarf because they tired of it, but its not common and its certainly not celebrated. Its supposed to be a lifelong commitment, and a way to show that you are more committed to God. Its a debate even within Islam on whether its religiously mandated, some believe it is, others believe the hijab is strictly a personal choice and take offense at the other side. Now the burka, or the niqqab, is more cultural than religious. Many, many Muslims I know take issue with both the burka and niqqab and find them repulsive. I have only had one Muslim tell me the niqqab is religiously mandated, and she was (as much as it pains me to say it) more of an extremist with her views.

Yeah, she was free to leave, the woman shouldn't have cussed at the officer. Show a little common sense. Plus, you show your ignorance by being veiled and throwing obscenities around. Just take the headscarf off if you don't want to play nice. Even in Muslim countries you wouldn't get away with that. I don't get why everyone is so quick to always jump to religious discrimination.

[Grimmlok]

because they know the western system will coddle it

[Sweetie]

I doubt it. I think if he really wanted to arrest her he would have never let her walk away.

Wonder if the bailiff is lying about her swearing.

[january]

Yeah, when I lived in Egypt, I could have complained about all kinds of stuff. I could have said it was cruel and unusual to be waken up every day at 4:30 AM by three different mosques all screaming their calls to prayer. Or that on Fridays (the start of the weekend) I could forget about sleeping in because I had to be subjected to an hour long "sermon" that was being yelled at over the loudspeaker of the mosque next to us. Or I could have said that I was pissed that for the month of Ramadan all the restaurants and food shops were closed during the day. But different laws and customs for different countries, you either respect them or STFU, in my opinion. This woman was not arrested because of religious discrimination, she was arrested for her own stupidity.

[Sweetie]

^ DAYUM. Sweetie would go mad in Egypt. I better scratch that idea.

[Grimmlok]

gawd.. at least with churches, it's just some bells that eventually stop.. and they sound pretty too.

[twitchy2.0]

I doubt it. I think if he really wanted to arrest her he would have never let her walk away.

I have an irrational distrust of security people.

[Sweetie]

^ I have an irrational distrust of cops, so I don't know why I am taking up for one.

[msdeb]

i'm sure its because she cussed, but even so, they let Hulk Hogan wear his scarf to his sons sentencing...

[january]

^ DAYUM. Sweetie would go mad in Egypt. I better scratch that idea.

Haha, well the hotels and everything are away from the mosques. But when you actually live there, its a different story. The first day I moved there I woke up on a Friday in a panic because I heard two different men yelling over loudspeakers. I actually thought we had been invaded, or something was going on. I ran outside and called my friend, who laughed for about fifteen minutes. She said, "oh, you just heard the Friday prayers". Evidently, they get really worked up when they say their sermons. I just learned to tune them out eventually, but I always groaned when I woke up on Friday. We had three mosques in the area, and they all tried to yell over each other, it definitely was an experience.