Atlanta, USA - City court workers including a municipal judge in an Atlanta suburb will undergo sensitivity training after police arrested a Muslim woman for refusing to remove her religious headscarf before attending a hearing.
The judge ordered Lisa Valentine, 40, to serve 10 days in jail for contempt of court after the Dec. 16 incident. She was released in less than a day.
Muslim rights activists have asked the Department of Justice to investigate the incident that triggered a protest in Douglasville, a city of about 20,000 people on Atlanta's west suburban outskirts.
Council on American-Islamic Relations spokesman Ibrahim Hooper said Wednesday the training doesn't address the problem.
"We can deal with whether people knew about policies or whether they handled things correctly, but the bottom line is, can a Muslim woman walk into this courtroom wearing religious attire?" he said.
In a news release this week, the city police department acknowledged that while courtroom rules restrict headgear, Municipal Court Judge Keith Rollins has made accommodations for religious reasons.
Akil Secret, an attorney representing Valentine, said a lawsuit is likely.