Muslim woman wins $85,000 lawsuit after having hijab removed by police in California

A Muslim woman who had her hijab removed while in police custody has won an $85,000 (£66,000) settlement from the Californian city of Long Beach.

Kirsty Powell took legal action after a male police officer violated her religious beliefs by removing her head covering in front of other men, according to a lawsuit filed on Ms. Powell's behalf by the Council on American-Islamic Relations [CAIR].

The complaint argued that Ms. Powell could have been searched in private by female officers “without any valid security concerns".

But, instead, it said she was forced to endure “severe discomfort, humiliation and emotional distress.”

In addition to generating a monetary settlement, the incident helped shift the city's official policies. In December, the Long Beach Police Department amended its policy to allow inmates booked into city jails to keep religious head coverings.

That shift foreshadowed the $85,000 (£66,000) settlement the Long Beach City Council approved last week.

CAIR attorney Carey Shenkman said the payout was a vindication for the argument “that stripping Kirsty’s hijab stripped her of her religious freedom.”

The lawsuit stemmed from a May 2015 encounter with the police in which Ms Powell and her husband were pulled over by an officer who spotlighted the couple driving a “low rider,” according to CAIR's complaint.

Ms Powell was detained after the officer discovered an outstanding warrant for her arrest stemming from a decade-old shoplifting allegation.

The officers rejected Ms Powell and her husband's entreaties that religious dictates require her to wear a hijab and be touched only by women, according to the complaint.

After being “forcefully stripped” of her hijab at the police station, the document said, she spent the night in a holding cell, “feeling distraught, vulnerable and naked to anyone who passed.”