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.

[Sugar and Spice]

Where do you people get your information, from the inside of cracker jack boxes? You need to get educated before you start talking about something you know nothing about!!!!

[Sugar and Spice]

The double "a" as in the case of Sultaana is because her name is not Sultana, it is pronounced Sultahna.

[BlessedBeGod]

She's not going to win this in THIS state. Believe me, not now.

You never know with that fun bunch -- the Florida Supreme Court!

[mvpel]

The public roads are owned by the PUBLIC, that is, you and I, having paid taxes to build them.

Personal liberty, or the Right to enjoyment of life and liberty, is one of the fundamental or natural Rights, which has been protected by its inclusion as a guarantee in the various constitutions, which is not derived from, or dependent on, the U.S. Constitution, which may not be submitted to a vote and may not depend on the outcome of an election. It is one of the most sacred and valuable Rights, as sacred as the Right to private property ... and is regarded as inalienable."
16 C.J.S., Constitutional Law, Sect.202, p.987

"Personal liberty largely consists of the Right of locomotion -- to go where and when one pleases -- only so far restrained as the Rights of others may make it necessary for the welfare of all other citizens. The Right of the Citizen to travel upon the public highways and to transport his property thereon, by horsedrawn carriage, wagon, or automobile, is not a mere privilege which may be permitted or prohibited at will, but the common Right which he has under his Right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Under this Constitutional guarantee one may, therefore, under normal conditions, travel at his inclination along the public highways or in public places, and while conducting himself in an orderly and decent manner, neither interfering with nor disturbing another's Rights, he will be protected, not only in his person, but in his safe conduct."
II Am.Jur. (1st) Constitutional Law, Sect.329, p.1135

[bwteim]

Dear Miss Sugar and Spice:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/fr/617435/posts?page=73#73

to: DJ88
from: Sugar and Spice
Where do you people come from? I have been reading this forum for a few days now, and all you guys do is criticize arabs and moslems for their so called hatred of Americans, but it is no different than the hate that you are full of for them. What is the difference?

To: nopardons
from:Sugar and Spice
Gee, what good spelling you have!!!!!!

To: Unbeliever
from: Sugar and Spice
Where do you people get your information, from the inside of cracker jack boxes? You need to get educated before you start talking about something you know nothing about!!!!

Sorry for not getting back sooner, sweet thing.
Us spelling morons had a private caucus off line and I, being a newby, drew the short straw and had to send this response.

Don't take offense if you get few responses to your attempted slams. They are not interesting or original. Disrupters are usually left to wither on the vine. EOM.

[DJ88]

LOL!!!!!

[NYCVirago]

It's a question of principle -- they have a right to Free Exercise in their religion, and I certainly see no harm in letting this woman go around veiled.

Who's saying she can't go around veiled? Not the state of Florida; all they're saying is that she can't have a veiled photo on her driver's license. And as we were taught in driver's ed, driving is a privilege, not a right.

I can appreciate that this might intimidate or frighten some American men, but their infantile social development should not dictate law.

You seem to be a one with a real hangup about this. Only in your bizarro world do guys get hot and bothered over looking at a driver's license photo!

[bwteim]

LOL!!!!!

Good thing for you that I showed up at the side band Freep mail, DJ88. Else you would have had drawn the short straw....

Oops, forgot, must remember to cover myself: " Good thin' foh yo, dat ah show'd up at de Freep mail, else ya wudda gotten de short end of de stick...."

[be131]

Even Saudi Arabia has started introducing full-face ID cards for women.

[Styria]

Can she see well enough to drive when she wears that thing? Including turning her head to see out the sides.

[NYCVirago]

Ms. Freedman's eyes are brown. Blow up the driver's license picture and lighten it.

I was quoting from the article, which said she had green eyes and mascara on, but thanks for proving the point that this current driver's license picture is pretty useless for identification purposes. The only identifying characteric you can see in the picture are the eyes, and there's disagreeement as to what color they are.

On the enlargement, it appears to be kohl, a powdered antimony that's placed on the edge of the eyelids. It brightens the vision, cleans the surface of the eyeball, and looks like overdone mascara sometimes. I don't see eyeliner or eyeshadow for sure, I think it's her skin tone.

It looks like an awful lot of eye makeup for somebody who doesn't want men to give her the eye!

Or maybe she's wearing some, the Quran doesn't forbid much

Ha!

and certainly God knows better than to tell women not to decorate themselves, He's not interested in putting them in the wrong by making them disobedient.

So this woman says her religion bans her from showing her face. Yet, she has enough eye makeup on to make a streetwalker blush, and you say the Koran says it's fine!

[NYCVirago]

LOL! ROFL! Whee-haa! Yo, MAMA!!! You got it, I think I'll go sign up to be a traffic cop.

Hey, you're the one who said she wanted her driver's license picture with a veil that:

"that didn't show her face to every Tom Dick and Harry at a grocery counter. Or does it just get under your skin when a woman doesn't want you to look at her? ....I don't think Ms. Freeman is cutting the heads off chickens, she's just tired of the ogling from crude dudes. Some thrive on it, some don't.

If you're going to be a troll, consistency is a virtue.

[zeaal]

Two Words - PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION

[finnman69]

May I suggest a bicycle.

[DJ88]

Nope. The veil might get caught between the spokes, which would then cause her to fall and injure herself, and we'd be right back where we started from....

If you want to drive, you better know the law. If I went in with a baseball cap and sunglasses on, do you think they would give me a driver's license without asking me to REMOVE THEM? NO. So, as a white woman, would I have the right to SUE???? NO!!! IDIOT! (Her, not you, finnman).

[Mixer]

Where do you people get your information, from the inside of cracker jack boxes? You need to get educated before you start talking about something you know nothing about!!!!

Let's see here you admit to only being on the forum a few days and you ask why people on here bash Muslims and Arabs....My guess? You either need to spend some more time here or you need to Move to America and feel what we felt on 9/11.

Also please point the regulars to some interesting favorite facts of yours so we can read and understand what you know....Thanks

[bwteim]

LOL. Big suit brewing, tho. You Floridians have some exceptional cases.

[DJ88]

Listen, you little troll. Do you do ANYTHING but go around on this forum and insult people? I could follow you around this forum all day long (as if) and you'd be spouting the same crap that you have been for the last two days. Get lost.

[DJ88]

Yeah, big suit all right. If it's IN THE LAW it's THE LAW. Of course, we do the have the clowns up in Tallahassee we can always count on....UGH.

I was born in NJ. I think I'll change my flag on my profile sheet......LOL!!!! ;-)