1:08 am ET, May 1, 2024
Video shows an Arizona State University police officer removing a protester's hijab during an arrest
From CNN's Cindy Von Quednow
Mass Liberation AZ
A video taken over the weekend at Arizona State University shows a campus police officer removing the hijab from the head of a protester.
Blurry video obtained by Mass Liberation AZ and provided to CNN by Saeed Al-Saeed, an attorney representing the women, shows several ASU Police Department officers holding a woman's hands behind her back.
Bystanders can be heard yelling, “You're violating her privacy,” and “Give it back.”
Officers then pull the woman's sweatshirt hood over her head and a bystander yells, “So she can wear a hood but she can wear a hijab?” At one point one of the officers blocks the woman from the view of the videographers, as one man yells “Let her go!”
A lawyer who says this happened to her and three other women is demanding accountability.
Al-Sayed, who said the arrests took place early Saturday, did not identify the women but indicated that three of them were university students and four were residents of the Phoenix area. There are cases of criminal trespass against them.
Once in custody, Al-Sayed said the women explained the importance of the hijab and “begged” to keep their hijabs on, but she said they were told to remove them for security reasons.
“They never expected that an officer sworn to protect and serve … would violate their most basic protected right under the U.S. Constitution, which is the right to practice their religion. So they are wounded,” Al-Sayed said.
After being detained and jailed, the women were not given back their hijabs, Al-Sayed said.
After about 15 hours, when his clients were finally granted access, al-Sayed said he was able to bring them new hijabs.
Arizona Chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-AZ), Condemned University police and others called for a full investigation into the recorded incident.
“This act represents a flagrant violation of the religious freedom of peaceful protesters. This is deeply distressing for the women victims, and the ASU police should conduct a thorough investigation into the matter,” Azza Abuseif, executive director of CAIR-AZ, said in an email to CNN.
“The matter remains under review,” the university said in a statement to CNN. CNN has reached out to the Maricopa County Attorney's Office for comment.
