A Muslim woman sued six Chicago police officers and the city of Chicago for religious discrimination for pulling off her hijab when she was arrested in a CTA stairwell.
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“Angel” Al Matar filed her federal lawsuit Thursday. She claims she was
falsely arrested on July 4, during Ramadan, when she was trying to
catch a train to return home and break her fast by sunset. A YouTube video
of the incident shows officers tackling Al Matar while she climbed up
the stairs. Al Matar says police grabbed her, “pulling at her and
ripping off her hijab,” the Chicago Sun-Times reports.
According
to CAIR-Chicago, police also verbally taunted her and publicly stripped
her to her underwear while she was handcuffed on the ground. Al Matar
spent the night in a jail cell and was charged of multiple criminal
charges including resisting arrest and reckless misconduct. She was
later found not guilty.
“This unprovoked violence and unlawful behavior by members of Chicago Police Department
comes at a time of both heightened Islamophobia and a continued history
of institutionalized police violence and malicious prosecution based on
race, religion, or other identity-based factors,” CAIR-Chicago
Executive Director Ahmed Rehab said in a statement. “That someone would be subjected to this wanton abuse is intolerable.”
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