NEW YORK: A lawsuit has been filed by a civil rights organization and a law firm against Suffolk County Police on the charge of forcing a Muslim woman to remove her hijab and stripping her nake in October 2022.
Marowa Fahmy was arrested by the police on October 9, 2022, and allegedly subjected to an invasive body search and had her hijab forcibly removed.
The police took Fahmy of East Setauket into custody on a false domestic complaint filed by her 16-year-old son, according to the lawsuit filed by the New York chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations and Emery Celli Brinckerhoff Abady Ward & Maazel LLP.
Police officers allegedly forced Fahmy to remove and undress for a body search and exposed her to multiple male officers and photographed completely violating her religious beliefs.
According to a notice of claim filed by her lawyer with the Suffolk County Attorney’s Office, Fahmy felt “exposed and violated without hers—as if she were naked in a public space.”
The lawsuit alleged that the SCPD’s conduct violated New York State and federal law.
“Under the SCPD’s Policy 900.5.6, individuals are generally allowed to wear headscarves for religious reasons. Those who request to wear headscarves or simple head coverings for religious reasons should generally be accommodated absent unusual circumstances.”
The policy requires these coverings to be searched before being worn and specifies that “Individuals wearing headscarves or other approved coverings shall not be required to remove them while in the presence of or while visible to the opposite sex if they so desire.”
In Fahmy’s case, the lawsuit added, officers did not adhere to these guidelines.
Fahmy is now seeking damages for loss of rights and emotional distress.
The incident violated Fahmy’s First Amendment rights, which protect individuals from unreasonable interference with their religious freedoms, the lawsuit claims.
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