A Muslim woman forced to remove her hijab in front of male officers during booking at an Aurora detention facility has hit the city with a proposed class action in Colorado federal court, alleging its policy requiring women to remove religious head coverings for booking photographs violates the U.S. Constitution.

Khadija El Hassni, who was arrested and booked following a domestic dispute call, said Wednesday that Aurora's booking policy burdens the free exercise of religion without any legitimate law enforcement justification.

"Aurora enforces this policy without accommodation, without regard to religious belief, and without any legitimate penological or public safety need," she said in her complaint.

According to the complaint, El Hassni's arrest occurred in August 2025 following a domestic dispute call at her Aurora residence in which she was taken to a detention facility, where a male officer directed her to remove her hijab for a booking photograph. She told the officer she was Muslim and that removing her hijab in the presence of men violated her faith, but the officer said she had no choice.

"She covered her face with her hands in mortification and cried immediately after removing the hijab," the complaint said. Her booking photograph depicts her crying while unveiled.

El Hassni pointed to Aurora's written standard operating procedures, which include detailed accommodation requirements for transgender detainees but contain no provision for religious accommodation during booking. She argued the omission reflects a conscious and deliberate choice by the city.

The complaint further noted that state and federal agencies, including the Colorado Department of Revenue, the U.S. Department of State and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, routinely allow a hijab in identification photographs, undermining any argument that removal is necessary for identification purposes.

"To require removal of the hijab in the presence of unrelated men constitutes a profound violation of privacy, dignity, bodily autonomy, and religious conscience," the complaint said.

El Hassni asserts claims for violations of the First and Fourteenth amendments, the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act and the Colorado Constitution.

She seeks to represent all Muslim women who wear the hijab and were required to remove it for booking photographs at Aurora's detention facility in the two years preceding the filing.

The suit seeks a permanent injunction barring Aurora from enforcing the policy, as well as compensatory and punitive damages.

Counsel for El Hassni and representatives of the city did not immediately respond to comment requests Friday.

Counsel information for the city of Aurora was not immediately available Friday.

El Hassni is represented by Azra Taslimi and Matt Cron of Rathod Mohamedbhai LLC.

The case is El Hassni v. City of Aurora et al., case number 1:26-cv-01498, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado.

--Editing by Rich Mills.