New York City is awarded $17.5 million in a class action lawsuit led by two Muslim women who claim their religious rights were violated when police forced them to remove their hijabs for photos after arrest. agreed to pay.
More than 3,600 people will be eligible for payments under the preliminary financial settlement, which must be approved by a district court judge and was filed Friday in Manhattan federal court.
The two women, Jamila Clark and Arwa Aziz, first filed the lawsuit in 2018 after they were arrested for violating a false protection order. The two had been arrested the previous year in Manhattan and Brooklyn, respectively.
A woman wearing a hijab in New York (Robert Nickelsburg/Getty Images)
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They said they felt shame and trauma after being forced to remove the head coverings worn by Muslim women to protect Islamic teachings. Their lawyer likened removing the hijab to a strip search.
“When I was forced to remove my hijab, I felt like I was naked,” Clark said in a statement from her lawyers. “I don’t know if words can express how exposed and violated I felt.”
“I am so proud to have helped bring justice to thousands of New Yorkers today.”
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The total payout would be about $13.1 million after attorney fees and other costs, and could rise even more if enough of the more than 3,600 eligible class participants file claims. Each recipient will be paid a range of $7,824 for her to $13,125 for him.
Albert Fox Kahn, a lawyer for Mr. Clark and Mr. Aziz, called the settlement a milestone for New Yorkers’ privacy and religious rights.
“The NYPD should never have stripped these pious New Yorkers of their headdresses and dignity,” Khan said, according to the New York Times.
He said the agreement “sends a strong message that the NYPD cannot violate the First Amendment rights of New Yorkers without paying a price.”
New York City skyline. (FOX News Photo/Joshua Commins)
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In response to the lawsuit, the New York City Police Department agreed in 2020 to allow men and women to cover their heads when having mugshots taken, as long as their faces are visible.
“This settlement represents positive reform for the NYPD,” said Nicholas Paolucci, a spokesman for the city’s attorney general’s office. “This agreement carefully balances respecting the strongly held religious beliefs of law enforcement with the critical need of law enforcement to take arrest photographs.”
The lawsuit follows a 2018 lawsuit in which New York City was ordered to pay $180,000 to three Muslim women who were forced to remove their hijabs for mugshots.
Reuters contributed to this report.
