Police force Muslim mother of 8 to remove her hijab for mug shot after minor traffic stop in violation of state and federal religious freedom laws: Lawsuit

Sophia Johnston and her family (L) and in a selfie (R)

Sophia Johnston and her family, on the left, and in a selfie, on the right. (Daniel Horwitz)

A sheriff’s department and multiple deputies in Tennessee violated a Muslim woman’s religious freedom and civil rights by forcing her to remove her hijab for a booking photo, a federal lawsuit claims.

No man outside Sophia Johnston’s family had seen her hair since she was a child, in line with her devout Muslim faith.

That changed on Aug. 23, when multiple members of the Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office forced her to remove her religious headscarf for “no valid or compelling” criminal justice reason, according to her 14-page lawsuit filed in a Nashville-based U.S. district court.

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