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Sultaana FreemanSultanna Freeman is a convicted child abuser. It could be the dim lighting, the poor camera work or the drab backgrounds at most motor vehicle departments, but driver's license photos are seldom considered flattering. To a veil-wearing Florida woman, they're unconstitutional.
Sultaana Freeman, an American-born Muslim woman, lost her license after she refused to remove her veil, or hijab, for a photo. Now she is suing the Florida State Department of Highway Safety for violating a Florida statute that says the government "shall not substantially burden a person's exercise of religion."
Freeman's civil suit, which is expected to go to court May 27, draws on the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which states: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..."
But Florida authorities say the world changed after Sept. 11. After learning that 13 of the 19 hijackers allegedly obtained licenses in Florida, authorities cracked down on the system, hoping to ensure that the DMV photos could remain one of the primary tools used by law enforcement officials for identification.
The showdown, in which Freeman is asking a court to reinstate her license, pits her interpretation of Islam, a 1,400-year-old religion, against Florida authorities struggling to keep law enforcement from falling behind.
What Makes a Veil?
The tradition of the hijab stems from a trio of verses in the Al-Ahzab section of the Quran, one of which reads: "Tell thy wives and thy daughters and the women of the believers to draw their cloaks close round them (when they go abroad). That will be better, so that they may be recognised and not annoyed."
Even within the Islamic religion, the form and function of the veil is widely disputed. Some Muslims take a loose interpretation of the verse, believing it does not mandate Muslim women to wear the veil. Others take a strict interpretation. But even then, some women cover only their hair, some cover only part of their face, and some — like Freeman — cover all but their eyes.
"Full hijabs are very rare," said Alan Godlas, an associate professor of religion specializing in Islamic studies at the University of Georgia. But whether full, half or hair only, the hijab is often an integral part of a Muslim woman's identity.
"For many Muslim women, it's one of the key features of their identity as a Muslim," said Godlas. "Not only would removing it be a violation in their mind of the Quran, it's a violation of an element that's essential to who they are ... it is the most important single religious symbol to many Muslim women."
The interpretation of this verse could make its way into Freeman's trial.
Freeman claims her "sincere religious belief that her religion requires her to wear her veil in front of strangers and unrelated males" as the basis for her March 2002 complaint.
But Florida authorities have geared up to dispute her strict interpretation of the veil, and plan to call an expert witness, Khaled Abou El Fadl, an Islamic law professor at the University of Southern California, to argue that full-face veiling is an Arabic cultural custom, rather than a practice mandated by Islamic law.
Unless quashed by Judge Janet Thorpe, the showdown over Islamic law could put the court system, an ardently secular unit, in the difficult position of deciding a matter of religious interpretation. "I'm sure you can get religious scholars to pretty much disagree on anything," said Howard Marks, Freeman's Florida-based lawyer, who is working on her case pro-bono. It is not the role of a court to be the arbiter of religious scripture." The Plaintiff's Case To rebut the state's case, Freeman is expected to call a number of religious experts to testify about the significance of the veil in the Muslim religion. Marks, her attorney, told Courttv.com he will also attack the state's timing. "We do not believe the events of 9/11 justify the government's intrusion to restrict a person's ability to live by their religious principles and religious beliefs," said Marks. Before Sept. 11, Freeman had a Florida driver's license with a photo of her in traditional garb. She also had one in Illinois, where she lived before. Marks is also seeking to show that his client has been singled out, when, he claims, hundreds of thousands of Florida residents are issued drivers licenses without photographs each year. "They issue them for a myriad of reasons," said the lawyer. "If they have such a compelling state interest that everyone must have a license with their photograph on it, then why do they have all of these exemptions on it?" The lawyer says he has precedent on his side, citing three cases brought by Christian sects that believed the second commandment prohibits photographs. And 14 states, not including Florida, have built in exemptions to deal with such religious objections to photographs. The State's Case Jason Vail, the Florida assistant attorney general handling the case, says a victory for Freeman could damage one of the most important law enforcement mechanisms in the country, the official license photograph. "The case has major implications for the integrity of driver's licenses around the country," he said. "If you allow exemptions from it for reasons like this, people who have a religious objection to taking photographs at all could ask for them too." Terrorists, said Vail, could abuse such exemptions. Freeman was twice photographed for mugshots in Illinois — once after being arrested on child abuse charges and once after her husband was arrested for firing a gun from the roof of the family's home on July 4. She pleaded guilty to aggravated battery in the first case and was not charged in the second. "The argument is that there's a law enforcement interest in the mugshots," said Vail. "The interest is the same with a photo driver's license." In addition to the expert on Islamic law, Vail also plans to call representatives from the Department of Motor Vehicles to explain the ways in which Muslim women have been accommodated. "The practice has been to ask the men to leave the room. They lift the veil, we take the picture, they get the license, and they put it in their pocketbook and nobody sees it again," Vail said. "We don't care. We just have to have the picture." But to Marks, Freeman's lawyer, the courtesy is still not a compromise: It isn't the process, but the photograph itself that his client objects to. "She believes that would violate a tenet of her religion," he said. Doesn't Child Abuse go against their 'Peaceful' Religion? - You are a piece of shit! |
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World Trade Center Attack Memorial - September 11, 2001 Breaking News From GOD: April 17, 2006 11:24 AM
Send mail to Webmaster (at) Twin-Towers.net with questions or comments about
this web site. On Tuesday, September 11, 2001, at 8:45am New York local time, One World Trade Center, the north tower, was hit by a hijacked 767 commercial jet airplane, loaded with fuel for a trans-continental flight. Two World Trade Center, the south tower, was hit by a similar hijacked jet 18 minutes later at 9:03am. (In separate but related attacks, the Pentagon building near Washington D.C. was hit by a hijacked 757 at 9:43am, and at 10:10am, a fourth hijacked jetliner crashed in Pennsylvania.) The south tower, WTC 2, which had been hit second, was the first to suffer a complete structural collapse at 10:05am, 62 minutes after being hit itself, 80 minutes after the first impact. The north tower, WTC 1, then also collapsed at 10:29am, 104 minutes after being hit. WTC 7, a substantial 47 story office building in its own right, built in 1987, was damaged by the collapsing towers, caught fire, and later in the afternoon also totally collapsed.
The list of collapsed buildings (as confirmed by the New York Times through Saturday, 2001.0915) included all seven buildings of the World Trade center complex — including WTC 6, the U.S Customs House to the north; WTC 3, the 22 story Marriot World Trade Center hotel just west of Tower Two; and WTC 4 and 5, the Plaza Buildings to the east (although satellite images suggest much of WTC 5, the north Plaza Building, was still standing). Other nearby buildings were significantly damaged, including the St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, and One Liberty Plaza, a 54 floor, 743' tall building across Church Street to the east. About 2800 people died in the attack. The recovery and site clearing process officially concluded on May 30, 2002 with 1796 people still remain unrecovered. 1.8 million tons of debris was removed from the disaster site. Yahoo! Buzz Index Overall Leaders 1. Jennifer Lopez 2. Britney Spears 3. Euro 2004 4. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban 5. Usher 6. 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Dallas Mavericks 4. Chicago Bulls 5. Indiana Pacers 6. Sacramento Kings 7. Minnesota Timberwolves 8. San Antonio Spurs 9. Boston Celtics 10. Houston Rockets 11. New Jersey Nets 12. Orlando Magic 13. Memphis Grizzlies 14. New York Knicks 15. Phoenix Suns Yahoo! Buzz Index Football Leaders 1. Dallas Cowboys 2. Oakland Raiders 3. Green Bay Packers 4. San Francisco 49ers 5. Chicago Bears 6. Washington Redskins 7. Pittsburgh Steelers 8. Philadelphia Eagles 9. Indianapolis Colts 10. Miami Dolphins 11. Cincinnati Bengals 12. Detroit Lions 13. Seattle Seahawks 14. Cleveland Browns 15. New York Giants Yahoo! Buzz Index Hockey Leaders 1. Tampa Bay Lightning 2. Detroit Red Wings 3. Calgary Flames 4. Philadelphia Flyers kate faber Paris Hilton Sex Video TapeWORLD TRADE CENTER TERRORIST ATTACK IN NEW
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