Santa Clara Sheriff’s Office denies it “yanked” hijab off of Muslim woman

The Santa Clara Sheriff’s Office claimed on Saturday that a deputy did not forcibly remove the hijab of a Muslim woman being booked into jail.

“The Sheriff’s Office received the complaint and reviewed the surveillance footage. Force was not used to remove the Hijab and in fact the complainant was asked to remove it herself,” the office said in a public statement, reports Bay City News.

Asia Aden had called the sheriff’s office for a domestic-violence incident. Because she was in possession of a bat for self-defense, she was herself arrested and taken to the Elmwood Correctional Facility in Milpitas, reports NBC. It was there that a deputy “yanked” off her hijab to photograph her, according to an August 3 statement from the San Francisco Bay Area chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

She was not allowed to have her hijab while spending three days in jail, alleges the council, and was eventually not charged.

“Ms. Aden explained to deputies that she wore a hijab for religious purposes and that it was against her religious beliefs to remove her hijab in front of men who were not related to her—to no avail,” the council said. “Her hijab was still forcibly removed—yanked off her head—and Ms. Aden was not provided with an alternative jail-issued head covering, despite repeated requests.”

The council is asking Santa Clara County officials for Aden’s booking photograph, to pay for her emotional distress and to retrain its staff.

The alleged incident comes after another in 2021 in which a woman reportedly had her hijab confiscated when booked into a Santa Clara County jail, forcing her to wear a sweater and then a shirt in its place. After that news broke, the local chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations called for the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office to revise jail policies to address religious head coverings.

In its statement Saturday, the sheriff’s office said it had updated its policies after the 2021 incident to “ensure that anyone wearing a Hijab, Kufi, Turban or Yarmulke will be reasonably accommodated, subject to the compelling interest for facility security or to prevent self-harm.”

But it added that, in “general, these garments must be searched upon entering the facility before they are returned or another is issued.”