(Courthouse News) Five Muslims accused immigration officials at a Florida detention facility of denying them access to the Quran and restricting prayer in a federal lawsuit filed Wednesday.
“Glades County Detention Center is brazenly violating fundamental religious rights for no discernible reason other than to harass and demean Muslims,” Yusuf Saei of Muslim Advocates said in a statement. “Needlessly restrictive detention conditions such as these also pressure immigrants to give up on their cases and accept deportation rather than wait for an outcome in their underlying immigration case.”
In Wednesday’s suit, five Somali men who fled their home country years ago in the midst of a civil war claim detention center staff repeatedly refused to provide religious materials, such as Qurans, prayer rugs and head coverings, for several weeks after their arrival. They also say officers delayed or cancelled prayer services and served food they could not eat without violating their religious edicts.
