Muslim Woman Sues over Drivers License [FL: Show your face on driver license photo; FL Woman: No]

The Orlando Sentinel ^ | Jan. 30, 2002 | P. Gutierrez and A. Rippel

[summer]

Muslim woman sues state over drivers license



By Pedro Ruz Gutierrez and Amy Rippel |
Sentinel Staff Writers
Posted January 30, 2002

WINTER PARK -- A 34-year-old woman is suing the state for suspending her Florida drivers license after she refused to have her photo taken without an Islamic veil.

Sultaana Freeman, a former evangelist preacher who converted to Islam about five years ago and wears the traditional niqab, says her religion doesn't allow her to show her face to strangers.

She filed suit earlier this month asking an Orange County judge to review her case.

"I don't show my face to strangers or unrelated males," Freeman said in an interview Tuesday at the office of her American Civil Liberties Union attorney. Only her emerald-green eyes and mascara showed through her veil.

The niqab is different from a hijab, or partial head covering, which doesn't hide the face and which some Muslim women wear for their drivers license photos.

Freeman, who is on an apparent collision course with the state, is bracing for a possible showdown on the fundamental freedoms of the U.S. Constitution.

"Florida law requires a full facial view of a person on their drivers license photo," said Robert Sanchez, a spokesman for the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles. "We have no choice but to enforce it."

Florida law says license applicants shall be issued "a color photographic or digital imaged drivers license bearing a full-face photograph."

ACLU lawyer Howard Marks argues that the law is vague. "I don't think the state statutes mandate a photograph," he said.

Marks said he also will cling to a state law on religious freedom that states the "government shall not substantially burden a person's exercise of religion. "

Barry University Professor Robert Whorf said the state is probably within its right to ask for a full-facial photograph. "It makes common sense if the state of Florida were discriminating against her because of her religion; that would more likely be unconstitutional," he said. "If the state of Florida's rationale for insisting the veil not cover the face is for law-enforcement purposes that apply to everyone, then clearly the state of Florida is not discriminating against anyone for religious reasons."

To husband Abdul-Malik, also known as Mark Freeman, the state's action is an infringement on his and his wife's rights.

"It's a reflection of Sept. 11," said Abdul-Malik, 40, a 1980 Edgewater High School graduate and 1984 Florida State University graduate.

The Freemans said they only want recognition that their interpretation of Islam requires women to cover their faces.

Sultaana Freeman said she never had trouble in Illinois, where she worked as a civil engineer with the state's utilities company. That state, without objection, issued her license with a photo that showed only her eyes.

Her Florida license was issued with her face covered last February, but the state demanded a new photo without her veil in November. State record checks began after Sept. 11.

Altaf Ali, executive director of the Florida chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said he knows of three other times Muslim women were refused Florida drivers licenses because of their headdresses. "I'm sure there's a lot more that's happening and not getting reported," he said.

Ali is asking the state to clarify its policy on religiously mandated clothes, and he wants the state to train employees about Muslim needs.

Yasmin Khan, 39, of West Palm Beachsaid she tangled with motor-vehicle officials when she was refused a drivers license in mid-December. Khan, a native of Trinidad and a Muslim, said she pulled her headdress back to her hairline -- as far as her religious beliefs would allow -- for the Dec. 17 photo but was told she needed to remove it completely. When she refused, she was denied a drivers license, she said.

"I decided to call anybody and everybody because I needed my license. I have kids, and I need to leave my home," she said.

Two days later, after getting help from local politicians, Khan was photographed with her hijab pulled back for her new drivers license.

In Daytona Beach earlier this month, Najat Tamim-Muhammad, 41, was refused a Florida identification card because she declined to remove her hijab.

Two years ago, Tamim-Muhammad, a native of Morocco, removed her headdress for the ID photo, but her husband said she did it only because she spoke no English and was unsure of her legal rights.

Idris Muhammad, her husband, said they plan to go back to the office to explain to a supervisor why she cannot remove the hijab. They hope to have the photo taken at that time.

"We understand the fear that comes with dealing with people you don't know or understand," he said. "In my opinion, it violates our equal rights under the law. Most people, when you sit down and explain why the women wear the hijab and the seriousness of not having it on, understand."

Amy C. Rippel can be reached at arippel@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5736. Pedro Ruz Gutierrez can be reached at pruz@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5620.

[dc27]

I was wondering about the passport photo as well. A U.S. passport photo requires that the ear be visible as well.

[CheneyChick]

Ugh - I hate these kinds of stories. Don't drive or go back to your own country.

[GussiedUp]

Bump

[Xenalyte]

I'm game if you show up as "Xena lookalike by night" [does not have to be same as your DL photo....]

I oughta post my driver's license picture on my profile page. I look insane - wild-eyed and large-haired - absolutely nothing like my profile pics. (My own mother asked me if I got blasted before I went in for the renewal.)

Come to think of it, the last time I got a ticket, the cop looked at my license VERY carefully, then at me, then at the license, then at me again. I finally had to fish out other documents and photos to prove my own identity. Of course, this was the teeming metropolis of Magnolia, Texas, where I'm guessing they don't see that many leather-clad vixens. (Not to mention the infuriating and utterly unnecessary Midnight By The Side Of The Road Chick In Leather Drunk Test.)

[Unbeliever]

Don't beat around the bush, how do you REALLY feel...)

[PietroA]

My religion forbids me from giving the government any information about me, my family, my finances and also forbids me from paying taxes and obeying the law.

Well, I was thinking of starting a religion anyways... wanna join? You are a bit too late.
I understand these folks are in and out of jail, so ....

Embassy of Heaven

[Southern Federalist]

The following article by Daniel Pipes is, I think, quite relevant to this case:

The Danger Within: Militant Islam in America .

Pipes documents that there are Islamists in the United States who have the same goal as the terrorists, but don't think a violent approach will work. Their strategy, as they themselves outline it, involves using multiculturalism and ACLU style civil liberties activism to give Muslims in the United States a special legal status, ultimately to maneuver the courts into allowing Muslims to live under sharia rather than the laws of the United States. Then through long-term immigration, grow the Muslim population and its political influence to the point that it can demand that more and more sharia law apply to non-Muslims.

Of course, not all US Muslims by a long shot share these aspirations. But this lawsuit sounds very much in line with the strategy Pipes describes. It would in essence involve sharia trumping the laws of Florida; it would to a certain degree require non-Muslims to observe sharia (DMV employees and cops would have to obey sharia at least in not demanding to see her face). Now look for the Islamist front groups, like CAIR, to jump into the fray.

[Revolting cat!]

(Not to mention the infuriating and utterly unnecessary Midnight By The Side Of The Road Chick In Leather Drunk Test.)

You mean to tell us you were sober at midnight? Freak!

[redhawk]

There is no "Right" to have a Drivers License. If you don't want to have your picture taken, you don't get a license. BTW lady, if you want to live by that ridicules Islamic code, why are you in the U.S?

[bwteim]

I oughta post my driver's license picture on my profile page. I look insane - wild-eyed and large-haired - absolutely nothing like my profile pics. (My own mother asked me if I got blasted before I went in for the renewal.).

ROTFL. Nah, don't bother. Why not ask the cop at the next check stop to do an extra one of you while you're doing the "Midnight By The Side Of The Road Chick In Leather Drunk Test "instead? We'll promise not to share it with your mom! :)

[ken21]

that's a slam-dunk!

yo' not drivin' b*tch!

[mmmmmmmm....... donuts]

summer, as far as i'm concerned, u can use a thumbprint too.

also, however, i do think the woman should have to take the driving test again to see if she can drive with the burqa.

[summer]

Thanks. :)

However, in this post 9-11 climate, I think everyone SHOULD be willing to have their photo on a driver's license -- or, ride a camel.

[Pistias]

I thought in the Islamic tradition women weren't supposed to drive anyways...

[Sugar and Spice]

sounds to me like your calling the kettle black! Don't Americans try to impose their western standards on Arab and moslem countries?

[Pablo64]

My first thoughts on this were along the lines of what we've all had drummed into our heads for years; that driving is a priveledge, not a right (not saying I agree with that, so please, no lectures from the Libertarians). If she doesn't want to comply with the law then she has two options: walk, or break the law and drive without a license.

That being said, I was wondering if it would work for her to have a female DMV employee take the picture (with no males in the room). Yes, when she is asked to present her license to a cop or such, they would see her face, but she would not be showing her face to them, only a picture of her face!

I know that is just a case of semantics, but most of these types of religious laws are just that anyway. It still would not eliminate the problem of how a cop would then match the picture to her (without calling in a female officer).

All in all, I think she should walk or move to another country (like Saudi Arabia, where she won't have to worry about a license at all!!LOL!!)

[My Favorite Headache]

Was she going for a HAZMAT license?

[mmmmmmmm....... donuts]

funny. but how is a photo ID card going to prevent terrorism any better than a thumbprint?

[Sugar and Spice]

They would rather die than convert to your religion, or lack of, too!

[Sugar and Spice]

What about the American fighter pilot? When in Saudi Arabia, be SAUDI!!!!