<p>Raneen Albaghdady, 32, says she felt humiliated when Wayne County Circuit Judge William Callahan ordered her to remove her hijab at a June 16 hearing in his Detroit courtroom.<br /><br />"This is the country and the land of freedom, and we're not supposed to be treated like this for the scarf," she said at a news conference yesterday afternoon at the Southfield headquarters of the Council on American-Islamic Relation's Michigan chapter, which joined in the federal lawsuit against Callahan and Wayne County.<br /><br />Callahan says Albaghdady, a native of Iraq, removed the scarf without protest and never mentioned its religious significance. If she had, he said, she would have been allowed to continue wearing it.<br /><br />"Judge Callahan has the greatest respect for spiritual practices and all religious preferences," he said in a statement released by the court. "He accepts that some women cover their hair as a religious practice, including Muslims and some nuns. He has never prevented a Muslim woman from exercising her right to cover her hair."</p>
<p>Raneen Albaghdady, 32, says she felt humiliated when Wayne County Circuit Judge William Callahan ordered her to remove her hijab at a June 16 hearing in his Detroit courtroom.<br /><br />"This is the country and the land of freedom, and we're not supposed to be treated like this for the scarf," she said at a news conference yesterday afternoon at the Southfield headquarters of the Council on American-Islamic Relation's Michigan chapter, which joined in the federal lawsuit against Callahan and Wayne County.<br /><br />Callahan says Albaghdady, a native of Iraq, removed the scarf without protest and never mentioned its religious significance. If she had, he said, she would have been allowed to continue wearing it.<br /><br />"Judge Callahan has the greatest respect for spiritual practices and all religious preferences," he said in a statement released by the court. "He accepts that some women cover their hair as a religious practice, including Muslims and some nuns. He has never prevented a Muslim woman from exercising her right to cover her hair."</p>