Multnomah County Sheriff's Office Faces Lawsuit Over Forced Hijab Removals

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has filed a lawsuit against the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office, alleging civil rights violations related to the forced removal of hijabs from two Muslim women during booking in June 2024. Serine Abuelhawa and her sister Marjannah Hassan were arrested while participating in a peaceful pro-Palestine protest. Abuelhawa objected to removing her hijab in front of male deputies, citing religious beliefs that deem it inappropriate to be seen without it by non-family males. The lawsuit claims that the Sheriff's Office violated the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act by photographing the women without their head coverings and uploading those images to a law enforcement database. CAIR describes the experience as humiliating and asserts that it violated the women's dignity and religious freedom.

The plaintiffs seek unspecified damages and a mandate for the county to create policies that protect the religious rights of Muslim women in custody. An attorney for CAIR highlighted that basic respect and simple accommodations would have prevented the incident. This lawsuit follows another federal case by CAIR against the Oregon Department of Corrections for denying religious accommodations to Muslim men.