http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2008/12/18/us/AP-Muslim-Headscarf-Arrest.html?_r=1

ATLANTA (AP) -- A Muslim woman arrested for refusing to take off her head scarf at a courthouse security checkpoint said Wednesday that she felt her human and civil rights were violated. A judge ordered Lisa Valentine, 40, to serve 10 days in jail for contempt of court, 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 after they arrested her Tuesday.

Kelley Jackson, a spokeswoman for Georgia Attorney General Thurbert Baker, said state law doesn't permit or prohibit head scarfs.

''It's at the discretion of the judge and the sheriffs and is up to the security officers in the court house to enforce their decision,'' she said.

Valentine, who recently moved to Georgia from New Haven, Conn., said the incident reminded her of stories she'd heard of the civil rights-era South.

''I just felt stripped of my civil, my human rights,'' she said Wednesday from her home. She said she was unexpectedly released after the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations urged federal authorities to investigate the incident as well as others in Georgia.

The group cited a report that the same judge removed a woman and her 14-year-old daughter from the courtroom last week because they were wearing Muslim head scarves.

Jail officials declined to say why she was freed and 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.

------

Associated Press writer Kate Brumback in Atlanta contributed to this report.

Hahaha. Headscarves annoy me, purely because I don't like having religious symbols thrust in my face. Serves her right for not removing it.

"Serves her right for not removing it"!!! Is it really that easy to give up on your religious beliefs! It's part of her religion she can't just listen to him and take it off!!!

A headscarf isn't actually part of Islam. The Qur'an states that a woman should dress modestly, but where it refers to a hijab it doesn't actually mean headscarf (a hijab is a curtain that separates men from women). A headscarf was accepted to mean part of 'modest dress' as it was the fashion to wear one in Arabic countries at the time the Qur'an was written. The Qur'an only states for a woman to keep her breasts and 'private parts' covered. It's all down to interpretation, as is the case with so many parts of the Bible.
Those were the rules the judge imposed upon her. I am surprised anyone would go against the wishes of a judge. Although such religious symbols do irritate me, this is more about her whining about not getting her own way.

I am surprised anyone would go against the wishes of a judge.

So you break no laws whatsoever? o.0

Like what? I don't do drugs and I don't drive, so not to my knowledge.

Of course it could be claimed that singing carols is thrusting religion in peoples faces... yet you do that, do you not? And you're not even Christian.

Well, in fact women in Islam were asked to wear the veil... Yes they were asked mainly to dress modestly and what's mentioned in the Quran about the veil could be interpreted in other ways BUT if you're a muslim it means that you not only believe in Quran but also in prophet Mohammad and his teachings "The Sunnah" and in the Sunnah it IS required for women to cover their heads and bodies and only show their hands and faces... So it is quite clear that veil is a part of Islam...

Besides when they didn't allow her to go in wearing the headscarf "she turned to leave" It's not like she went against any rules there...

All I'm going off here is a documentary I watched a few weeks ago, so it's probably not that reliable. xD However, it stated that the Quran does make mention of a woman having to dress modestly and 'cover her adornments', I think is the expression? And such a thing, as with any religious text, can be interpreted in a variety of ways. It could mean to cover complete nakedness. It could mean to dress modestly - no miniskirts and bikini tops. Or it could mean to cover the hair. This is why, within the female Muslim community, there is such a range of dress style - each woman interprets it the way she sees fit, and adheres to it.

To be honest, if I was Muslim and if I wore the headscarf every day as part of my faith, I think I'd be very unwilling to take it off as well. I'd be angry if I was asked to. But I do at the same time understand that it's the law, and when you reside in a place then you must accept its laws. I guess it becomes a question of law vs religion, and a debate that will never end. xD

Well, ya some women interpret it the way they see fit but it's agreed upon and taught everywhere that a veil covers the entire body except the face and hands... Like I mentioned before to muslims "The Sunnah" comes second right after the Quran since the Quran tells muslims to act upon the teachings of prophet Mohammad and in the Sunnah it's stated directly what the veil is like... Besides, if you ask muslim women why they don't wear the veil very few would say that they interpreted it differently and most would tell you that they do in fact believe that they should wear it but it's not that easy to do so they want to wait until they feel ready to commit to it and wear it the right way...

Aye, I guess I asked because in this documentary there was one woman, in her 40s or so, who did not wear the veil and who was saying that prior to the 1970s, hardly any Muslim women wore the veil, and then suddenly many decided to wear it. As for her reasons for wearing, for her it was a matter of interpretation. So I guess she's the minority?

Did I say 40s? I meant 50s. xD Maybe a good-for-her-age 60-year-old. xD

Reasons for NOT* wearing. xD

I believe so yes... There are women like her but the majority do believe that they should wear the veil...

Yes, she turned to leave, but I think the fact that she muttered an expletive would have been what got her in more trouble.

Ya that was wrong of her to do... I agree.

I'm sure you wouldn't be too impressed by having to swear into a religion to enter a room, just as she wouldn't be prepared to give hers up.

That wouldn't bother me. I'm not religious but was christened C of E. Just because I don't believe in something it wouldn't bother me having to pay lip service to it.
I have an ambition to be a barrister and so what if I'd have to swear on a Bible? I'm not a militant atheist, but unfortunately other people are militant with their religions.

Due to most people being tolerant and respecting different beliefs, you don't have to swear on any religious symbol as that is an insult to the religion. Wearing a headscarf isn't militant, for a muslim not to wear one is similar to a christian workshipping the devil.

Really? Similar to worshipping the devil, eh? Why do many not wear headscarves then? Surely you can believe in the religion yet not follow what everyone else does. Just because you're not wearing an item of clothing doesn't mean you believe any less.

You do realise in religion if you pick and chose what rules you abide by, you are breaking many oaths with the God of that religion, therefore aren't an actual follower, your a pretender. Thats like saying you can be a catholic that has abortions and its all totally fine.

Are such ignorant people allowed into law school?

How rude and ignorant. How does her wearing a head scarf harm you in any way? Muslims aren't wearing headscarves so as to thrust their religion in people's faces... they wear them because it's part of who they are... and what they believe.

Others wearing symbols of their religion is what you consider being thrust in your face?

Ah, well this just makes the south look lovely. Thanks, Georgia judge. You're not helping the image. :-P

I think it's stupid. They wear those very tightly around their faces, she couldn't be hiding anything, it's clearly not a real security issue. It's sad that they singled her out. I don't understand why they cared so much, they should have just let her in. The same people would be angry if a Christian was treated that way for not removing a cross from their neck or similar religious symbol.