NEW YORK – The city of New York has agreed to pay $180,000 (Dh661,000) tothree Muslim women forced by police to remove their headscarves to have mugshots taken, officials said Wednesday.
Each of the women is to receive $60,000 after the settlements werefinalized in a Brooklyn federal court earlier this week, their lawyerTahanie Aboushi said.
Two of the them were arrested in 2015 and one in 2012. All three incidentstook place in Brooklyn, New York’s most populous borough, she added.
The women claimed their religious rights had been violated, suing the cityand the New York Police Department, the largest city police force in theUnited States, which was represented by the city’s law department.
New York police have since changed their guidelines to give detaineeswearing a religious head covering the option of having their photographtaken in private by a police officer of the same gender.
“It’s a step in the right direction and it was a collaborative effort toaddress a gap in the patrol guide,” Aboushi told AFP.
“The resolution of these matters were in the best interest of all partiesinvolved,” said Kimberly Joyce, a spokeswoman for the city of New York’slaw department.
US media identified one of the plaintiffs as a high school pupil at thetime, detained on a harassment complaint and said another was cuffed in adispute over parking. – APP/ AFP