[Peace-discuss] GA judge jails Muslim woman for hijab

[E. Wayne Johnson]

There's a long history of this nonsense among the judicial class...
*
 From the account of the trial of William Penn and William Mead at the 
Old Bailey in September 1670:*

/Court/. No advantage shall be taken against you; you shall have 
liberty; you shall be heard.

/Penn/. Then I plead Not Guilty in manner and form.

/Clerk/. What sayest thou, William Mead, art thou Guilty in manner and 
form, as thou standest indicted, or Not Guilty?

/Mead/. I shall desire the same liberty as is promised William Penn.

/Court/, You shall have it.

/Mead/. Then I plead Not Guilty in manner and form.

The Court adjourned until the afternoon.

/Crier/. O Yes, &c.

/Clerk/. Bring William Penn and William Mead to the bar.

/Obser/. The said Prisoners were brought, but were set aside, and other 
business prosecuted. Where we cannot choose but observe, that it was the 
constant and unkind practices of the court to the prisoners to make them 
wait upon the trials of felons and murderers, thereby designing, in all 
probability, both to affront and tire them.

After five hours attendance, the court broke up and adjourned to the 
third instant.

The 3d of September, 1670, the court sat.

/Crier/. O Yes, &c.

/Clerk/. Bring William Penn and William Mead to the bar.

/Mayor/. Sirrah, who bid you put off their hats? put on their hats again.

/Obser/. Whereupon one of the officers putting the prisoners hats upon 
their heads (pursuant to the order of the court) brought them to the bar.

/Record/. Do you know where you are?

/Penn/. Yes.

/Record/. Do not you know it is the king's court,

/Penn/. I know it to be a court, and I suppose it to be the king's court.

/Record/. Do you not know there is respect due to the court ? —

/Penn/. Yes.

/Record/. Why do you not pay it then?

/Penn/. I do so.

/Record/. Why do you not pull off your hat then?

/Penn/. Because I do not believe that to be any respect.

/Record/. Well, the court sets forty marks a piece upon your heads, as a 
fine for your contempt of the court.

/Penn/. I desire it might be observed, that, we came into the court with 
our hats off (that is, taken off,) and if they have been put on since, 
it was by order from the bench; and therefore not we, but the bench 
should be fined.

/Mead/. I have a question, to ask the Recorders am I fined also?

/Record/. Yes.

/Mead/. I desire the Jury, and all people to take notice of this 
injustice of the recorder: Who spake to me to pull off my hat? and yet 
hath he put a fine upon my head. O fear the Lord, and dread his power, 
and yield to the guidance of his holy spirit, for he is not far from 
every one of you.



Morton K. Brussel wrote:
> In some places, it's a sign of disrespect not to have ones head covered…
> On the other hand, I'm a firm advocate of strict Separation of Church 
> and State, but that seems not to have been the issue.  --mkb
>
> On Dec 17, 2008, at 11:49 AM, Ricky Baldwin wrote:
>
>> You don't have to be Muslim or even pro-religion to see multiple 
>> problems with this kind of pattern.  Came up a couple years ago when 
>> France tried banning the hijab - in schools, I believe.  In some 
>> countries they say you have to wear it, in some they say you can't.  
>> Seems to me, in general, we should support a person who wants to wear 
>> it where they say you can't, and support a person who doesn't want to 
>> where they say you must.
>>  
>> Ricky
>>
>> "Speak your mind even if your voice shakes." - Maggie Kuhn
>>
>>
>>   Ga. judge jails Muslim woman over head scarf
>>
>> By DIONNE WALKER, Associated Press Writer /12-17-08/
>>
>> ATLANTA – A judge ordered the arrest of a Muslim woman who refused to 
>> take off her head scarf at a court security checkpoint.
>>
>> The judge ordered Lisa Valentine, 40, to serve 10 days in jail for 
>> contempt of court, said police in Douglasville, a city of about 
>> 20,000 people on Atlanta's west suburban outskirts.
>>
>> Valentine violated a court policy that prohibits people from wearing 
>> any headgear in court, police said after the Tuesday arrest.
>>
>> The Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations urged 
>> federal authorities to investigate the incident as well as others in 
>> Georgia.
>>
>> "I just felt stripped of my civil, my human rights," Valentine told 
>> The Associated Press on Wednesday from her home, after she said she 
>> was unexpectedly released once CAIR got involved. Jail officials 
>> declined to say why she was freed.
>>
>> Municipal Court Judge Keith Rollins said that "it would not be 
>> appropriate" for him to comment on the case.
>>
>> Last year, a judge in Valdosta in southern Georgia barred a Muslim 
>> woman from entering a courtroom because she would not remove her head 
>> scarf. There have been similar cases in other states, including 
>> Michigan, where a Muslim woman in Detroit filed a federal lawsuit in 
>> February 2007 after a judge dismissed her small-claims court case 
>> when she refused to remove a head and face veil.
>>
>> Valentine's husband, Omar Hall, said his wife was accompanying her 
>> nephew to a traffic citation hearing when officials stopped her at 
>> the metal detector and told her she would not be allowed in the 
>> courtroom with the head scarf, known as a hijab.
>>
>> Hall said Valentine, an insurance underwriter, told the bailiff that 
>> she had been in courtrooms before with the scarf on and that removing 
>> it would be a religious violation. When she turned to leave and 
>> uttered an expletive, Hall said a bailiff handcuffed her and took her 
>> before the judge.
>>
>>  
>>
>>
>>
>>
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