JURIST - Paper Chase: Georgia court jails Muslim woman for not removing head scarf

[JURIST] A Muslim woman in the US state of Georgia was arrested Tuesday and ordered to serve 10 days in jail for contempt of court after she refused to remove her headscarf [JURIST news archive], or hijab, upon entering a security checkpoint in an Atlanta courtroom. Douglasville Municipal Court [official website] Judge Keith Rollins found Lisa Valentine in contempt [Atlanta Journal-constitution report] for violating a court policy that prohibits wearing headgear in court. Valentine, who also goes by her Islamic name Miedah, was released from jail later in the day after the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) [official website] called on the US Department of Justice (DOJ) [official website] to investigate the incident [press release], although jail officials did not confirm their reason for letting her go [AP report].

Religious headscarves have become controversial in several Western countries recently, as lawmakers struggle to balance an individual's right to practice their religion with public policy and security concerns. Earlier this month the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) [official website] unanimously ruled [press release; JURIST report] that there was no human rights violation when a French school expelled two students for refusing to remove their headscarves [BBC backgrounder; JURIST news archive]. In May, a US federal judge dismissed a federal lawsuit [JURIST reports] filed by a Muslim woman against a judge who asked her to remove her niqab in court. In September 2007, Canadian chief electoral officer Marc Mayrand resisted calls by Canadian lawmakers [JURIST report] to invoke his discretionary powers to require women to remove traditional Muslim niqabs or burqas when voting in elections in the province of Quebec.

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