US sues school over denial of Muslim pilgrimage

The federal government sued a suburban Chicago school district Monday for denying a Muslim middle school teacher unpaid leave to make a pilgrimage to Mecca that is a central part of her religion. In a civil rights case, the department said the school district in Berkeley, Ill., denied the request of Safoorah Khan on grounds…

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Holder Calls Terrorism Sting Operations ‘Essential’

Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. has defended the use of sting operations orchestrated by government informers, telling advocates for the civil rights of American Muslims on Friday night that the tactic is an “essential law enforcement tool in uncovering and preventing terror attacks.” Tensions escalated last year after revelations that an FBI informant had…

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Georgia: Lawsuit Over Muslim Woman’s Head Scarf

The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a lawsuit on behalf of a Muslim woman in Georgia who was arrested in 2008 when she refused to remove her head scarf while entering the Douglasville Municipal Court to accompany her nephew to a traffic hearing. The woman, Lisa Valentine, verbally protested the order and was briefly…

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Hate Charges for 2 Accused of Attacking an Imam

Two men were charged with hate crimes on Thursday after they attacked a Muslim religious leader on a New York City subway train, the authorities said. The attack occurred early Wednesday morning on a northbound A train, when one of the men confronted the victim — who was wearing a traditional African hat called a…

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Muslim employees of D.C. hotel say they were barred from floors where Israelis stayed

Muslim employees of the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Washington said they felt discriminated against after being barred over the weekend from floors where an Israeli delegation was staying, a Muslim advocacy group said. The hotel’s general manager, Amanda Hyndman, said the hotel rearranged some shifts and told some workers not to come in after a…

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