Dearborn Hijab Lawsuit Dropped in Light of Video Evidence

DEARBORN, MI – A local Muslim woman has dropped her 2015 federal lawsuit against members of the Dearborn Police Department, whose officers she claimed violated her civil rights by requiring her to remove her hijab when she was taken into custody on a traffic warrant.

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The city of Dearborn, which was also named as a defendant, said in a statement Wednesday that video taken in the police department’s booking room during the arrest “revealed that her claims were false.”

]Maha Aldhalimi had claimed in the lawsuit that she had pleaded sever times with officers to allow her to leave her religious head covering on because of her deeply held religious belief. She claimed that if she didn’t remove it, it would be removed against her will.

“Dearborn police remain committed to respecting the rights of all people within our custody and we follow a stringent policy regarding religious head coverings,” Dearborn Police Chief Ronald Haddad said in the statement. “We knew this lawsuit had no merit and are glad that the people we serve can have confidence that our officers acted properly in this case.”

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• Muslim Women Sue for Right to Wear Hijab

City officials said the lawsuit “attracted a great deal of unfavorable media coverage to Dearborn and to the Dearborn Police Department that lasted for weeks.”

About 40 percent of Dearborn residents are Arab Americans, and many of them are Muslims.