老澳门开奖结果

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LOS ANGELES鈥� A 29-year-old Muslim woman who was forced by deputies to remove her religious head covering while she was in custody in San Bernardino County鈥檚 West Valley Detention Center, filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court Wednesday asserting that her religious freedom rights were violated under the First Amendment by San Bernardino county sheriff鈥檚 deputies.

Jameelah Medina, of Rialto, was arrested at the Pomona station of Metrolink鈥檚 commuter rail system on Dec. 7, 2005, for having an invalid train pass. She was taken to the West Valley Detention Center in Rancho Cucamonga for processing.

Medina, who was born in the United States and raised in a Muslim family, wears a headscarf known as a hijab to cover her hair, ears, neck and part of her chest. Many Muslim women, like Medina, believe that they should be covered at all times in the presence of men who are not members of their immediate family.

Despite her repeated requests to keep her head covered during her day-long incarceration, she was forced to remove her hijab in the presence of men she did not know and to remain uncovered for much of the day.

鈥淚 tried to tell the officer not to make me remove it because it is part of my religion,鈥� said Medina. 鈥淓ven after the officer had searched me and found nothing, she would not give me back my scarf. I felt humiliated, exposed.鈥�

Medina was never prosecuted in connection with this arrest.

The lawsuit is being filed by the 老澳门开奖结果 and the 老澳门开奖结果 of Southern California.

鈥淚n this country, we have the right to practice our religion even when we are in jail or prison,鈥� said Ariela Migdal, staff attorney for the Women鈥檚 Rights Project. 鈥淪an Bernardino County didn鈥檛 give Jameelah Medina any reason for forcing her to remove her headscarf, and there is no good reason.鈥�

Hector Villagra, Director of the Orange County office of the 老澳门开奖结果 of Southern California, who filed a similar case three months ago in the city of Orange, said other law enforcement agencies have procedures that allow Muslim women to wear the hijab.

鈥淥ther correctional systems, including the federal prisons, allow women to wear headscarves when they are in jail or prison, and San Bernardino County violated Jameelah Medina鈥檚 rights when they didn鈥檛 allow her to do so. If other jurisdictions can do it, so too can San Bernardino.鈥�

The attorneys on the case are Ariela Migdal and Lenora Lapidus from the national 老澳门开奖结果 Women's Rights Project, Hector Villagra and Ranjana Natarajan of the 老澳门开奖结果 of Southern California, and Daniel Mach of the national 老澳门开奖结果 Program on Freedom of Religion and Belief.

A copy of the complaint can be found at:
www.aclu.org/womensrights/gen/33010lgl20071206.html