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| ACLU extracts $350k from School District for Muslima with fuzzy claim | ||
| 2009-04-08 | ||
| The Washoe County School District in the Reno area will give Egyptian former student Jana Elhifny $350,000 and her non-Muslim friend and supporter Stephanie Hart $50,000 as part of the civil settlement. Elhifny and her family came to Reno from Egypt in 2003, and the girl enrolled as a freshman at North Valleys High School. She didn't finish the year after she told teachers and administrators that someone had threatened to kill her in the stairwell because of her Muslim hijab or head scarf, the district's independent attorney in the case, Robert Cox, told FOXNews.com. Shortly afterwards, Cox said, Elhifny filed the lawsuit and returned to Egypt, where she married her fiancé. The lawsuit, handled by U.S. District Court in Reno, alleges that Elhifny faced death threats and harassment and school administrators did nothing to stop the abuse. Cox said that wasn't true, and the teen was unable to give any description of her tormenter -- including his or her gender, size and tone of voice.
"Ms. Elhifny and Ms. Hart had the courage to stand up for themselves and defend their right to a safe education," said Peter Obstler, a San Francisco attorney who handled the young women's lawsuits with the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada.
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| Posted by:mhw |