Four women are considering legal action after police forcibly removed their hijabs following misdemeanor arrests during the protests at Arizona State University.
All four women agreed to speak to ABC15 on the condition of anonymity due to concerns over their safety.
“It’s a trauma that will stay with me forever,” one of the women told ABC15. “It’s the equivalent of stripping your clothes off. They stripped me of my humanity -- not only my rights but also my dignity -- by taking my hijab.”
The four women were arrested in the early morning hours of April 27.
For one of the women, cell phone video footage captured the moment when officers pulled off her hijab. Multiple people, who aren’t seen in the video, can be heard telling officers they are violating her privacy.
The woman in the footage told ABC15 that she believes the officers knew the significance of what they were doing.
“You can see in the video how one of the officers after they realized what they were doing was wrong… He stood between the camera and me,” she said.
All four of the women said they begged the officers not to remove their hijabs.
“I told them, I pleaded, please do not remove it,” one said. “They said, ‘Well, oh you’re being arrested, you should have thought about that before.’”
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She added, “Them telling me, ‘You’re being arrested,’ basically tells me, well you’re not a human anymore, your rights are gone now, you’re being arrested… If someone’s begging you for something, they’re vulnerable, they’re traumatized, they’re handcuffed, they chained, and you do that, there’s no way you can plead ignorance. There’s no way.”
The women told ABC15 that they believe ASU Police Department officers removed their hijabs.
There were multiple other agencies present during the protests, including the Department of Public Safety and Tempe Police. But spokespeople for both agencies denied their officers had any involvement.
In response to a request for comment, an ASU spokesperson wrote, “This matter is under review.”
On Thursday, ASU sent an updated statement regarding the incident.
"ASU is aware of concerns about the manner in which a woman, or women, in police custody early Saturday morning were prepared for transport to the county jail along with the other 68 people who were arrested for refusal to leave the ASU campus. ASU understands and appreciates the cultural concerns expressed and is reviewing the matter as part of a comprehensive review of events on Friday and early morning Saturday, which is being directed by the Office of General Counsel. "
The four women spent more than a day in county jail following their arrests.
A defense attorney said he brought hijabs to the jail and was able to convince Maricopa County corrections officers to provide them to the women about 15 or 16 hours after their arrest.
The attorney, Zayed Al-Sayyed, also said there was no reason for the women to be booked into jail because they were charged with Class 3 misdemeanors for trespassing.
The charge is the lowest level of crime in Arizona.
“The ASU Police Department has the option to cite and release. They could have cited and released,” Al-Sayyed said. “They chose to book all of these people. Why? I think it’s disgusting, and I think they did it to retaliate.”
Similar incidents of police forcibly removing hijabs have led to major settlements and lawsuits in other places.
Earlier this month, New York agreed to pay $17.5 million for forcing women to remove their hijabs.
After ABC15 first published a video of officers removing the woman’s hijab at ASU, several civil rights organizations commented on the incident.
ACLU of Arizona posted on X, “This video showing police forcibly removing a woman's religious dress is outrageous. Muslims, like all of us in the United States, have the right to practice their religion. Law enforcement must respect the religious freedom rights of everyone protesting in Arizona.”
The four women are now weighing whether to file a lawsuit.
“I hope to hold them accountable and that no one else suffers a similar fate,” one told ABC15.
The woman in the cell phone video said, “The reason I’m sharing my story is to bring the ones responsible to justice and to protect all other Muslim women from such a dehumanizing experience.”
Contact ABC15 Chief Investigator Dave Biscobing at Dave@ABC15.com.
