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Woman forced to leave mall after refusing to remove hijab is considering legal action |
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By The Associated Press
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NEW ORLEANS — A Muslim woman says her civil rights were violated when a security guard forced her to leave a shopping mall when she refused to take her headscarf off.
The woman and her family, U.S. citizens of Palestinian heritage, are considering legal action.
The incident, which took place Feb. 22 but was not made public until March 3, involves Muntaha Sarsour, 54, and her daughter-in-law, Sajehed Judeh, 23.
The two women had just bought takeout at the mall food court when an Oakwood Shopping Center security guard allegedly stopped Sarsour and told her to remove her headscarf. The mall is in Gretna, a culturally diverse suburb of New Orleans.
“He told her she had two options: Either she take off her headscarf or leave the mall,” said Judeh, speaking on behalf of her mother-in-law, who does not speak English well.
The mall’s senior general manager, Lynn Walters, said steps are being made to make sure “this type of occurrence never happens again.”
The mall is run by General Growth Properties Inc., one of the nation’s largest shopping mall developers.
The FBI is looking into the incident, said FBI spokeswoman Sheila Thorne.
The security guard was hired and trained by AlliedBarton Security Services, a national powerhouse in the private security business, Walters said.
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