Homeland Security apologizes for strip-searched Muslim woman in Tampa
The Homeland Security Department apologized to a Muslim woman who was detained at Tampa International Airport in April and strip searched at a county jail. Safana Jawad, 45, a Spanish citizen who was born in Iraq, was detained on April 11 because of a suspected tie to a suspicious person, authorities said. Jawad was taken to jail, strip searched and held for two days before being deported to England.
Jawad filed a complaint and the agency apologized on Dec. 8. "On behalf of the Department of Homeland Security, I offer you my sincere apology for having to undergo a strip search," wrote Timothy J. Keefer, acting chief counsel for the department's Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties.
Martin Sullivan