A Muslim Woman Is Suing The Chicago Police After Being Mistaken For A Terrorist

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Itemid “Angel” Al-Matar, a young Muslim woman in Chicago, was mistakenly identified as a potential “lone wolf” terrorist at a subway station last July 4, and now a federal lawsuit against six officers has been filed on her behalf.

Al-Matar claims that the defendants used excessive force, and she also alleges false arrest, violation of freedom of religious expression, and malicious prosecution. Al-Matar had been walking at a brisk pace as she left the subway station to get home and break her Ramadan fast at sunset. She caught officers’ attention because she was wearing a headscarf and face veil while carrying a backpack. The Chicago Sun-Times reports that Al-Matar saw the group of officers point at her. She walked past them, and they allegedly grabbed her on the stair landing, “pulling at her and ripping off her hijab.”

According to ABC News, the lawsuit also claims officers violated her civil rights by pulling off her religious hijab as they arrested her. They then took her to the police station where she was strip searched. A lawyer for the Chicago chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, who is a co-counsel in the civil case, claims it was a case of “blatant xenophobia, Islamophobia and racial profiling.” A police report indicates that the area was “on high alert of terrorist activity” on the Fourth of July holiday.

ABC News also reports that a K-9 unit searched for explosive materials with negative results, but that Al-Matar was charged with obstruction of justice after police accused her of resisting arrest and refusing to comply with orders. She was acquitted earlier this year on all charges.

(Via ABC News and Chicago Sun-Times)

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