North Carolina Man Pulls Off Muslim Woman's Hijab on Plane, Pleads Guilty for Hate Crime
Without knowing who she is but knowing the hijab is of religious significance to Muslims, Payne shouted at the woman: "Take this off. This is America."
An American man has pleaded guilty after pulling off the hijab of a Muslim woman while on a plane ride. According to a report by Independent UK, the incident happened back in December last year during a flight with Southwest Airlines from Chicago to Albuquerque, New Mexico.
The suspect, identified as Gill Parker Payne from North Carolina, admitted on his own that he ripped off the hijab of the Muslim woman, who was identified in court by the letters KA, as per the court documents. He disclosed that when he saw the woman sitting a few rows in front of him, it crossed his mind that she should not be wearing the head garment in America. Thus, he went up to her to do something about it.
Without knowing who she is but knowing the hijab is of religious significance to Muslims, Payne shouted at the woman: "Take this off. This is America." He then pulled the hijab off K.A., exposing her concealed head. Carbonate.tv detailed that K.A. felt violated that she quickly put her hijab back on.
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According to the U.S. Justice Department, 37-year-old Payne used "force or threat of force to intentionally obstruct" a Muslim woman in the free exercise of her religious beliefs.
Huffington Post noted in a report that Payne pleaded guilty in a New Mexico federal court to a misdemeanor hate crime charge. He is now waiting for sentence for the Islamophobic attack to find out the duration and conditions of his probation but his plea agreement has been approved by the court already, which is two months of home detention.
The hate crime is not a first time as the case of Payne is just one of the many incidents of Muslims being harassed or kicked off flights. Sources cited that Muslim women are the victims in 80 percent of anti-Muslim hate crimes in the U.S. But as stated by the head of the U.S. Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, Vanita Gupta, all Americans, regardless of one's faith, are entitled to "peacefully exercise their religious beliefs free from discrimination and violence."
