(Mercury News) One of the region’s preeminent Muslim rights groups is demanding immediate policy and training changes based on a woman’s account that her hijab was forcibly removed while she was booked into a Santa Clara County jail, prompting her to resort to using a sweater then a shirt to cover her head after she was deprived of any replacement.
The demands were made public Thursday by the San Francisco Bay Area chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, and called for the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office to apologize to the woman — a Muslim of Somali descent — arrange a meeting with the involved deputies, and prevent any repeat instances through cultural and religious competency training and revising jail policies to properly address religious head coverings.
