Sunday, December 5, 2010

Muslim Woman Refuses to Remove Hijab for Jail Photo, Jailers Comply

A Muslim woman caught drunk-driving refused to remove her hijab for her jail photo. Jail officials allowed her to leave without being photographed.

BOULDER (AP) - A Muslim woman who refused to remove her headscarf for a Boulder County jail booking photo has been told she'll have to explain her refusal to a judge.

19-year-old Maria Hardman of Boulder, who says she converted to Islam three years ago, pleaded guilty to an alcohol violation and was sentenced to two days in jail plus community service.

She told the Boulder Daily Camera on Friday that removing her headscarf for the photo would violate her beliefs because the Quran calls for Muslim women to wear the scarf except in the company of close family.

A police report said Hardman's blood-alcohol level was 0.19, more than twice the legal limit, after she crashed her motor-scooter in August. Alcohol consumption is generally considered to be banned by Islam.

Hardman said she drank punch provided at a party without knowing it contained alcohol. She said she left after she found out.

Hardman said she was told to remove the scarf for the photo Wednesday, when she reported to the jail to do paperwork in preparation for a two-day work crew as part of her sentence.

She said her attorney spent three hours trying to persuade officials to let her wear the scarf for the photo. She said jail officials eventually allowed her to leave without taking her photo, but it's not clear whether she began serving her sentence.

Larry Hank, who oversees the jail, said Hardman will have to explain her refusal to the judge in her case and that jail officials are preparing a motion to explain their reasoning.

The newspaper reported Hardman's attorney is also working on a motion.

No hearing has been scheduled. (Source)

And yet our sister Negeen was forced to strip down to her tank-top when she was taken to Dearborn City Jail for believing that she has Constitutional rights.



Double standards anyone?

9 comments:

Jabari said...

Yes, this seem like double-standards. If they made this drunk muslim woman take off her hijab or even make her strip down to her tank-top muslims would be going berserk. There would be all sorts of riots and people would no doubtedly be killed.

Fisher said...

What I want to know is what is this supposedly "Muslim" woman doing drinking in the first place? Kind of defeats the whole purpose of converting to Islam, imo. LOL.

Koala Bear said...

She should be given a quran and asked to point out where exactly it says to wear that clap trap!

Peter said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
goethechosemercy said...

I think that A.A. is probably more effective in getting people off the sauce than Islam.

Fernando said...

drunk-driving? butt ain't muslims forbiden to drink alcohol? or she drinking other stuff than alcohol? hummm what can that be? iff we woulde investigate muhammad's life as a model to her behaviour we could perahps think she was drinkins menstruation blood that muhammad liked so much to smell...

Unknown said...

Hahahahahahahahahahaha.
All the comments are hilarious guys, really. By the way all the embassies around the world allow Muslim ladies to have there photos with hijab, as long as it does not cover any facial features, so I don't really see a problem!

hugh watt said...

fox1981:

I think you missed the context of the situation. It can be seen here:

"BOULDER (AP) - A Muslim woman who refused to remove her headscarf for a Boulder County jail booking photo has been told she'll have to explain her refusal to a judge."

Having your photo taken for an embassy and having a mugshot taken for drunk driving are two different things. What's the connection?

Unknown said...

Hugh:

Do you think your photo in an embassy is for fun??? Do you think that applying for visas is not taking seriously??? If security issues oblige women to show their hair, then it would be done in photos for visas like those for the jail. The idea is is the hijab is part of the identity, it is not a problem to keep it while taking the photo, and that is what some people understand, while others see it as "double standards"!