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Cleveland Woman barred from wearing hijab in court
Ruqayyah
07/16/02 at 18:33:54

Protesters object after officials deprive woman of head covering

07/12/02

Tomoeh Murakami
Plain Dealer Reporter

More than 50 Muslims and community leaders gathered in front of the Justice Center yesterday to protest the jail's refusal to let an Islamic woman wear a head covering in court.

Depriving Aisha Samad of her hijab, an object with social, religious and sexual implications, was akin to demanding that a non-Muslim woman strip to the waist in public, one protester said.
   
Rufus Sims, an attorney for the family, said he will ask county officials to meet with him to establish a new policy.

Some Muslims believe women should cover their hair in public and at home in front of those who are not family members. Samad has stringently followed the religious practice for all of her adult life, family members said.

The protest stems from a request Samad made on June 27 to wear a head covering for her appearance before Common Pleas Judge Ronald Suster. Samad, 47, of East Cleveland, was there on charges stemming from a child custody feud.

When Cuyahoga County Jail corrections officers denied her request, she asked if she could wear a small cap to cover her hair, her family and attorney said. Officers also wouldn't allow that.

Kenneth Kochevar, Cuyahoga County's director of corrections, said the officers followed standard security procedures.

"A person cannot cover their identity," he said. "We have to make sure something is not hidden away."

Regardless, Samad, her family and other Muslims saw it as an affront to their religious beliefs.

Samad's husband, Muhammad, said she has fallen victim to the "Islamphobia that's permeating in this country."

She is suffering from post-traumatic stress and didn't want to speak to the media, relatives said. She also didn't attend the rally.

Before appearing in court last month, Samad and her three grown sons - Kareem, Rashad and Khalil - spent the night in the county jail.

Samad's scarf and other belongings were taken as part of standard procedure.

Because of miscommunication and a change in lawyers, the family said, the four arrived at the Justice Center a week after their scheduled pretrial hearing.

A warrant had been issued, and they were arrested when they arrived June 26.

They were released after a plea bargain. The sons were convicted of two misdemeanor charges and Samad's case was dismissed. The case originated in August 2001 when Samad's daughter-in-law called police about the custody of her young children.

While in Cuyahoga County Jail, Muslim men are permitted to wear small caps covering the tops of their heads. But women's scarves are not allowed, said the Rev. Beverly Johnson, head chaplain of the jail.

Female inmates, she said, are "not allowed to wear anything on their heads that would be considered contraband or a security risk."

The scarf, she said, is long, and "anything can transpire" in jail and while inmates are in a holding cell waiting to appear in court.

That policy, she said yesterday, will not change.

"We have not denied or prevented her from practicing her religious beliefs," she said. "We just prevented her from wearing her religious garb for security reasons."


To reach this Plain Dealer reporter:

tmurakami@plaind.com, 216-999-4140

Re: Cleveland Woman barred from wearing hijab in c
Ruqayyah
07/16/02 at 18:35:22
[Editorial]
Beware the dreaded head scarf

07/14/02



Security policy ran headlong into religious practice in the Cuyahoga County courts last month. It was an avoidable collision. The courts and the corrections forces who guard the courthouse would do well to see that none like it occurs again.

A Muslim woman, Aisha Samad, appearing in a misdemeanor child custody case, was prevented for "security reasons" from observing "hijab," the covering of the head and upper body that some devout Muslim women practice whenever they are outside their homes.

Thus, they follow a Koranic admonition: "O Prophet, tell your wives and daughters and the believing women to draw their outer garments around them. . . ." The practice is a statement of identity as a Muslim of good moral character. To venture out without such covering is tantamount, in their minds, to harlotry.

But the guards called the scarf-like covering an unacceptable security risk. They would not allow Samad to wear even a small cap to symbolically cover her hair - an item of apparel that Muslim men in similar circumstances are allowed. That's nonsensical - a quick pat-down by a female security officer would have been sufficient to meet any legitimate security concerns.

Unlike the recent question of a Muslim woman who wished to be so photographed for her driver's license, this circumstance had nothing to do with establishing her identity. The anti-hijab policy is, at best, stubbornly ignorant; at worst, sexist and, yes, bigoted. Case law is replete with rulings supporting accommodation of such unobtrusive religious practices. Cuyahoga County need not add to that record.

Re: Cleveland Woman barred from wearing hijab in c
jaihoon
07/17/02 at 03:50:27
[slm]

I see the Sun of Islam raising from America!!!

No matter what the pressure on believes, i believe this is a matter of time.

Re: Cleveland Woman barred from wearing hijab in c
AyeshaZ
07/18/02 at 12:26:37


This happened too close to home.. May Allah(swt) protect us all. ameen
Re: Cleveland Woman barred from wearing hijab in c
Ruqayyah
07/28/02 at 04:25:44
JAIL POLICY TO ALLOW MUSLIM WOMEN TO WEAR HEAD COVERING
Associated Press, 7/25/02

CLEVELAND - A new policy assures that Muslim women in the Cuyahoga County Jail will be able to wear head coverings.

A jail-issua hijab will now be provided to any female inmate who requests one, jail director Kenneth Kochevar said Wednesday. "Since we allow head coverings for male inmates, it only seemed right to do the same for the women inmates," Kochevar told The Plain Dealer.

The decision was made nearly a month after inmate Aisha Samad complained she was not permitted to wear her hijab in court. Corrections officers also refused her request to wear a smaller head covering.

Some Muslims, including Samad, believe women should cover their hair in public and at home in front of those who are not family members.

Jail officials had said they could not allow the hijabs to be worn because they could conceal an inmate's identity or be used to hide weapons or other items.

Two weeks ago, more than 50 people protested outside the Justice Center, accusing county officials of being insensitive to Muslims.


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