الولايات المتحدة: منع مسلمة من الدخول لمركز للرياضات المائية بسبب حجابها

أكد مجلس العلاقات الإسلامية الأمريكية "كير" في تقريره الصادر بشأن قضية أسرة "محمود يعقوب" أنها مُنعت من حق المساواة في استعمال مرفق عام؛ وأن واقعة منعهم من الانتفاع بمركز الرياضات المائية أغسطس 2009 نموذج للعنصرية والتمييز الذي يتعرض له المسلمون بـ"الولايات المتحدة".

وتعود وقائع الحادثة إلى صيف 2009حيث قام موظفو مركز "سيرماك الأسري للرياضات المائية" بمقاطعة "كوك" بولاية "إلينويس" بمنع "فاتن" من الدخول لارتدائها الحجاب وملابس طويلة؛ بزعم مخالفتها للقوانين، وطالبوها بارتداء ملابس البحر العارية وهو ما دفعها للجوء لإدارة "إلينويس" لحقوق الإنسان لتحرير شكوى.

وعندما غادرت قام المسؤولون بمنع الأب والأبناء من الدخول أيضًا بزعم عدم ارتدائهم ملابس من خامات مناسبة وهو ما جعل كير تتبنى القضية وتمثل الأسرة المسلمة أمام إدارة حقوق الإنسان في تأكيد على أن منع الأسرة المسلمة من الانتفاع بالمرفق العام بسبب تلك الحجج الواهية ذريعة للتمييز غير المبرر.

الخبر من مصدره الأصلي:

Public pool discriminated, agency says

A Muslim family was wrongly denied access to an aquatic center in Lyons last summer when employees told them their clothing violated the facility's rules, state officials said Friday

A Muslim family was wrongly denied access to an aquatic center in Lyons last summer when employees told them their clothing violated the facility's rules, state officials said Friday.

In August 2009, Mahmoud Yaqub took his wife, Faten Alaraj, and two young sons to Cermak Family Aquatic Center, 7600 W. Ogden Ave., which is run by the Forest Preserve District of Cook County.

Alaraj was denied entry to the water park because she was wearing a long dress and headscarf instead of a swimsuit, according to a complaint filed with the Illinois Department of Human Rights. When she agreed to leave, Yaqub and his sons also were prevented from entering because park officials told them their swimsuits were not made of the proper material.

In the complaint, Yaqub said that he was wearing basketball shorts and that his sons were wearing children's swimsuits.

Meanwhile, friends and relatives who did not wear headscarves entered the water park fully clothed in regular attire without problems, according to the Chicago office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, which filed a complaint on behalf of the family with the Illinois Department of Human Rights.

The agency investigated and in a report released Friday concluded the family was wrongly denied "full and equal enjoyment" of the facility, and their denial of entry was "pretext for unlawful discrimination."

"This incident is a blatant example of anti-Muslim discrimination," Christina Abraham, civil rights director for the Chicago office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said in a statement. "Everyone is entitled to the equal enjoyment of public places."

Steve Mayberry, a spokesman for the Forest Preserve District of Cook County, declined to comment.