North Carolina Man Pleads Guilty to Federal Crime After Yanking Muslim Woman’s Headscarf Off
A North Carolina man pleaded guilty Friday to forcibly removing a Muslim woman’s head scarf during a flight between Chicago and Albuquerque, New Mexico, late last year.
37-year-old Gill Payne of Gastonia pleaded guilty in the District of New Mexico to one count of using force or threat of force to intentionally obstruct a Muslim woman in the free exercise of her religious beliefs, according to a press release from the Department of Justice. According to court documents, the incident occurred on Dec. 11, 2015, when Payne and the woman, who was only identified as K.A., were on board a Southwest Airlines flight where Payne demanded that the woman remove her religious headscarf, known as a hijab, before forcibly removing it from her head:
Payne was seated several rows behind K.A. on the airplane, and did not know her. Payne admitted that he saw that K.A. was wearing a hijab and was aware that it is a religious practice of Muslim women to wear a headscarf.