Muslim woman humiliated when mugshot without hijab shared. Tennessee county must now pay up

A Tennessee county will pay a Muslim woman a settlement of $71,500 after forcing her to remove her hijab for a mugshot and publishing it online, attorneys said.

Layla Soliz was arrested May 15, 2024, along with other pro-Palestinian activists during a protest on campus at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, according to a complaint which McClatchy News reported on in October.

As she was being booked on a misdemeanor charge into the Knox County Detention Facility, officials took two photos of her — one with her hijab and one without — despite her objections to removing the head covering, attorneys said.

An intake officer reassured Soliz the booking photo of her without her hijab would not be shared, but it was later posted on the sheriff’s office’s public website — going against the agency’s policy, according to the complaint.

“This is a meaningful step toward accountability for violating Mrs. Soliz’s religious rights under state and federal law,” attorney Daniel Horwitz, who represents Soliz, said in a March 19 news release shared with McClatchy News.

McClatchy News reached out to Knox County’s attorneys March 20 but did not receive an immediate response.