When Layla Soliz was forced to remove her hijab by Knox County Sheriff's Office deputies when she was booked after being arrested with her husband and 10 other pro-Palestinian demonstrators the night of May 15, it marked a shocking interaction with the American justice system.
It was her first time in handcuffs, her introduction to jail and the first time her religious rights were violated in a way that brings trauma to Islamic women. Jailers photographed her without her hijab, a Muslim head covering worn by women as part of their faith, and publicly posted the mug shot online, a violation of the agency's own policy.
When she and others arrested on the University of Tennessee at Knoxville campus reached the Knox County Detention Facility late that night, following hours waiting in a dark van with their hands bound by zip ties, she had no inkling that sheriff’s deputies would violate her constitutional religious rights. Several federal lawsuits have been filed after police departments forced the removal of religious headwear during custody, and the plaintiffs have secured substantial settlements in some cases.
Maha Ayesh, local attorney and board member of the Muslim Community of Knoxville organization, went to the jail beforehand to champion those rights, demanding deputies not remove Soliz's hijab. In Islam, the hijab expresses modesty, protects a woman's innocence and covers them from a male gaze. Witnessing a woman without her hijab is reserved solely for her husband and immediate family.
Ayesh's efforts to protect Soliz's religious rights were unsuccessful, and Knox County Sheriff's Office jailers violated the agency's written policy by posting her mug shot without her hijab.
“When they took my mug shot, they told me that I would have to remove it. They took one mug shot with my hijab and one without it and they assured me that the one without would not be visible to male officers or the public and it ended up online. As a Muslim that’s a stressor. Not only had my rights to freedom of speech been infringed upon but my religious freedom as well,” Soliz told Knox News.
Soliz, a 2012 graduate of the University of Tennessee and a staff member at Tayseer Seminary, grew up in Knoxville and had been on campus for days prior to the arrest with other students and organizers. Hailing from a Palestinian family directly suffering from the strife in Gaza, she emphasized her right to be present on campus that day, standing not only as an alumna but also in solidarity with students and the broader Muslim community.
Her husband, Zanne Soliz, a local engineer, also was arrested for the first time in his life. But the shock of discovering that his wife had been forced to remove her hijab was more profound than facing arrest and confinement.
“I was separated from my wife while in custody. So to learn of what happened to her was more upsetting than anything else," Zanne Soliz told Knox News. "To be honest, I didn’t feel any animosity toward the officers. They were there because someone called them and they were doing their job. One of the officers showed some sympathy when I told him that we have Palestinian family members and are watching our people over there and kids being killed, but he is still perpetuating a system of injustice."
The demonstrators' presence outside law school on the night of May 15 was deliberate. Layla Soliz emphasized that making their stand in front of an institution tasked with upholding justice and equality was entirely logical.
“This is where students learn about those values so it sends a strong message. We are here for a good cause and to bring awareness to a situation that is urgent and that needs to change. We were peaceful and have the right to be here,” she said.
Zanne said that the university administration's regulations, which confine demonstrators to a specific area of the campus, continue to impinge upon their First Amendment rights.
“There is no designated free speech zone. We should be able to freely speak anywhere, especially about injustice and not feel afraid,” he said.
Constitutional law experts say the university is within its rights to put time, place and manner restrictions on demonstrations as long as they are content neutral. The university had reserved a space for the pro-Palestinian outside the student union for demonstrators from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. each day, and offered to fast-track an application for demonstrators to register as a student organization. A subset of the loosely organized demonstrators, who are made up of a majority of students and alums but include some community members, declined the offer.
The reserved space expired May 18. The university has posted signs near the space that outline its rules if demonstrations continue, including the option for students to register as a student organization that can reserve space. Student demonstrations also are allowed on sidewalks running parallel to a city or university street. Demonstrators who are not affiliated with university are restricted to sidewalks running parallel to a city street.
Freedom of religion in booking process an ongoing issue for Muslims in America
Although there are no overarching laws dictating the removal of religious headwear by police during the booking process, certain law enforcement agencies have established their own policies regarding religious attire.
Earlier this year in Tennessee, Rutherford County reached a settlement in a lawsuit involving the forced removal of a Muslim woman's hijab for a booking photo following her arrest. Sophia Johnston was awarded $100,000 by Rutherford County, which also committed to revising its booking policies to accommodate religious attire.
In 2011, Metro Nashville loosened its security policies for religious headwear when the American Civil Liberties Union pushed for the changes. Davidson County Sheriff’s Office now keeps two sets of mug shots for women who wear religious head coverings. Only one with religious headwear will be made public while the photo without must be kept confidential.
Some lawsuits have resulted in costly settlements in favor of women forced to remove their hijab. The New York chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations initiated a class-action civil rights lawsuit in federal court in 2020 to to prevent the Yonkers Police Department from removing religious head coverings of arrestees for mug shots and during custody. The plaintiffs won a $175,000 award. Earlier this year, the council announced it had settled for $17.5 million with New York City after two women were forced by police to remove their hijabs before being photographed by police.
In Soliz's case, she told Knox News that her mug shot, without her hijab, initially was posted on the Knox County Sheriff’s Department 24-hour arrest list webpage before it was replaced with one showing her in her hijab. The photo remains accessible on third-party mug shot databases, which frequently create a lasting digital record for people regardless of their guilt or innocence.
Ayesh, associate dean of the Lincoln Memorial University Duncan School of Law and a 2006 graduate of the University of Tennessee College of Law, told Knox News that she went to the jail prior to Soliz's arrival to ensure that her religious rights be enforced.
“I am aware of this happening to others in jail in Knox County and others across the country. I am not aware of any policy they have and I stressed to officers at the jail the importance of not removing her hijab under any circ*mstances or publishing any photo without it," Ayesh said. "They told me they could not be certain of that due to security reasons. Layla is the gentlest soul in the history of the world so security should be of no concern. This was a violation of her rights.”
Knox County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Kimberly Glenn did not respond to a phone call or email from Knox News sent May 17 to ask about why jailers removed Soliz's hijab. In an email sent May 20, Glenn referred questions to the University of Tennessee Police Department although that agency does not handle jail bookings.
In response to additional questions, Glenn sent the sheriff's office policy to Knox News. It includes a heading titled "Religious Head Coverings" that explicitly instructs jailers to respect "the dignity and religious rights of arrestees who wear religious head coverings" and instructs staff to take photographs of the person arrested with and without the head covering but to release only the photograph with the head covering and to use only a photograph with the head covering on any inmate identification.
Muslim Community of Knoxville unites in solidarity after arrests
When Zaynab Mansour Ansari, scholar-in-residence at Tayseer Seminary in Knoxville, learned about her colleague Soliz's arrest along with other demonstrators, she immediately drove to the jail to provide support for Soliz and others in custody.
She told Knox News that social justice is a pillar of the Islamic faith and that it is part of the curriculum provided to students at the seminary. The Islamic principle of social justice ensures fairness across all aspects of human affairs, including political systems, social relations, and economic foundations.
“We have graduated a number of students that play a really important role in terms of activism around issues of social justice and they are doing important work in our city. We want them to be equipped to tackle the most pressing issues facing communities today,” Ansari said.
“One thing that really unites us in the Muslim community is our commitment to liberation in Palestine. The student-led movements and protests taking place across the nation right now is something that is inspiring to us because it is allowing those in our community to find their voice. Theologically, Muslims have always had a commitment to this issue but as a result, we are learning how to organize even more," she said.
Muslim students at the University of Tennessee, alongside members of the local Muslim community, have actively participated in the campus demonstrations, largely motivated by the backing and involvement of Masjid Annoor, Knoxville's oldest mosque.
Rashad Abdul-Azeem, a 44-year-old cybersecurity expert who came by to support demonstrators while visiting from Georgia, told Knox News that he was motivated by others at the mosque to support students who were protesting on campus.
“Supporting these students and being a part of these demonstrations goes back to my ancestor’s history as a Black Muslim in America,” he said. “We’re becoming more apathetic to some of the same things we stood up for just years ago, including Black Lives Matter, George Floyd and the same things we have been fighting against five years ago, 10 years ago, and decades ago. As an African American Muslim and military veteran, I have seen war firsthand and the devastation it causes. The same struggle of Palestinians are the same ones my ancestors went through so we have to say enough is enough.”
At the May 17 Jummah service at Masjid Annoor mosque, just a few blocks from campus, men dressed in thobes, and women in abayas, along with their children, gathered and prayed for those who were arrested and were taking part in protests in Knoxville and across the country.
Jummah is a congregational prayer that Muslims observe on Fridays after 12 p.m. The prayer is followed by a sermon.
Rafiq Mahdi, an imam at Masjid Annoor, addressed those in attendance about the importance of solidarity with students on campus and those around the country standing against the ongoing conflict in Gaza.
“We all feel very deeply about what is happening in Rafah and Gaza. Not that we don’t feel what’s happening in other parts of the world but we must speak out against injustice at all times and not be afraid of what we might encounter,” Mahdi said.
Mahdi helped to found the organization Muslim Community of Knoxvillein the 1980s, which led to the Masjid Annoor mosque being built near campus.
“We purposely built the mosque at this location to be close to the university so students have been a part of our congregation as well as our leadership over the years. The Muslim community in this city is tightknit and we will always support those students who are advocating and taking a stand and so we want to hear responses from the university administration predicated on certain values that we would want an institution of higher learning to be established upon,” Mahdi told Knox News.
He believes that heavy-handed responses from officials are on the wrong side of history.
“Students and others should be able to express themselves without fear of some type of incrimination. They should be met with hospitality and cordiality and if there’s an issue that is controversial or contentious it should be met with dialogue and understanding with a mutual civil approach. I don’t think much benefit comes from making arrests for anyone and I hope those who are in leadership positions at our institutions of higher learning will come to realize that.”
What led to the demonstrations at the University of Tennessee
Demonstrations at the university started May 1 and have included a loose coalition of people. The most visible group calls itself the People's School for Gaza and has gathered nearly every day for weeks. Demonstrators are pushing for UT to disinvest from its ties to Israel. Among the companies demonstrators have singled out are Bae System, Boeing, Lockheed Martin and RTX, formerly Raytheon.
In a May 7 letter, UT told Students for Justice in Palestine that it has no direct investments in companies in Israel, and that money for investments comes from donations, not tuition. UT said investments are made globally through third-party funds and it estimates 0.2% of the portfolio is invested in Israel-based companies.
On the night of May 17, one demonstrator was arrested. They were banned from campus after they were charged with misdemeanor criminal trespassing.
On May 15, 11 demonstrators were arrested on the College of Law lawn when police and university administrators asked them to move to a designated site on the Student Union lawn. They refused. Community leader and restaurant owner Yassin Terou was among them.
On May 2, nine people were arrested on the College of Law lawn.
Campuses across the country have beenhot spotsfor clashes between police and demonstrators, many of whom have supported Palestinians amid the Israel-Hamas war.
Hamas launched a surprise attack from Gaza on Oct 7, 2023. The attackers killed more than 1,100 people, most of them civilians, and took hostage about 250 people. Some people targeted in the attacks have accused Hamas fighters of raping and sexually assaulting some Israelis.
Israel launched a massive counterattack that has claimed the lives of more than 34,500 Palestinians, the Gaza Health Ministry told Reuters on April 30. Palestinian health officials say two-thirds of those killed were women and children.
Since June 2007, Israel has enforced an enhanced land, sea and air blockade of the Gaza Strip. UNICEF and other international aid organizations report the blockade has caused patients to die from lack of emergency medical attention, severely curtailed shipments of food and medicine, strangled construction and reconstruction efforts, and created crises in education, unemployment and the provision of critical health care and basic services such as clean drinking water and electricity.
Angela Dennisis the Knox News race, justice and equity reporter. Email angela.dennis@knoxnews.com.
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