Suffolk County has agreed to pay a $225,000 settlement to a Long Island woman who sued the county in federal court last year, claiming police forced her to remove her hijab and strip-searched her in front of a male officer.
Marowa Fahmy — a practicing Muslim who has worn a hijab every day for nearly 30 years — was arrested by Suffolk County police officers in October 2022 following a domestic complaint that was later determined to be false.
Despite telling officers that her religion prohibits her from being uncovered in front of men outside her immediate family, Fahmy said she was forced to remove her hijab and remain with her hair and neck exposed for about nine hours, according to the lawsuit filed on her behalf in January 2024 by the Council on American-Islamic Relations New York (CAIR-NY) and the law firm Emery Celli Brinckerhoff Abady Ward & Maazel.
The “humiliating” and “traumatic” ordeal violated the core tenets of Fahmy’s faith and deeply affected her, she said.
“Being forced to remove my hijab and remain exposed for hours in front of male officers violated everything I believe in,” Fahmy said in a statement on Friday. “I brought this case so no one else has to go through what I did.”
In the lawsuit, Fahmy alleged that the SCPD violated her religious rights under federal and state law. The complaint also challenged the county’s policy that required people to remove religious head coverings for booking photos.
After the suit was filed, Suffolk County revised its policy to allow religious coverings — such as hijabs, yarmulkes and turbans — to be worn during booking photos and while in custody, unless exceptional circumstances apply, according to Fahmy’s lawyers.
As part of the settlement filed Friday, Fahmy will receive $225,000 in damages. In addition to the monetary award, the SCPD has agreed to train its officers on policies regarding religious head coverings.
“The forced removal of a person’s religious head covering in front of male officers is profoundly degrading,” one of her lawyers, O. Andrew F. Wilson, told the Daily News in an emailed statement.
“Ms. Fahmy’s courage to bring this case not only secured justice for herself but led to real policy change,” Wilson said. “This settlement sends a clear message that Suffolk County’s previous practices were unconstitutional and out of step with national norms.”
The agreement also reaffirms that law enforcement “must respect the hijab” and the women who wear them, added Burhan Carroll, a staff attorney with CAIR-NY.
“What Ms. Fahmy went through should never happen again,” Carroll said.
