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ORLANDO - A judge ruled Friday that a Muslim woman cannot wear a veil in her driver's license photo, agreeing with the state that allowing people to show only their eyes would undermine efforts to thwart terrorists.
Circuit Judge Janet C. Thorpe agreed with the state's assertion that if Sultaana Freeman could keep her face off her driver's license, people planning harm could also.
Freeman maintained that showing her face in public violates her religious beliefs, but Thorpe ruled that her right to free exercise of religion would not be burdened by the photo requirement.
The state "has a compelling interest in protecting the public from criminal activities and security threats, and ... having access to photo image identification is essential to promote that interest," wrote Thorpe, who heard three days of testimony last week.
Florida Attorney General Charlie Crist praised the decision, saying, "Nothing is more important than making sure that our people are safe."
Freeman refused to speak with the media after meeting with her attorney, but her husband said they will continue to fight the state's policy.
"She's not lifting the veil," Abdul-Maalik Freeman said. "This is a religious principle; this is a principle that's imbedded in us as believers. ... We'll take the next step."
Attorney Howard Marks said the ruling will be appealed.
"It's really a sad day for Americans," Marks said. "Hopefully, we'll look back at decisions like this in the future and realize this was a mistake."
The American Civil Liberties Union of Florida, which supports Freeman's fight, said the ruling "is a needless restriction on religious freedom with no benefit to public safety."
"The government's tendency in the aftermath of Sept. 11 has been to restrict numerous freedoms merely for the sake of restricting liberty, rather than to make us truly safer," said Howard Simon, ACLU of Florida's executive director.
The ACLU noted that a driver's license can be obtained without a photo in 14 states.
Freeman, 35, sued Florida after the state revoked her license in 2001 when she refused to have her photo retaken with her face uncovered. Her previous license showed her veiled with only her eyes visible.
The Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles had offered to let Freeman be photographed for her license in a private room by a female worker. Thorpe's ruling said that would not have caused harm.
"We tried to be as accommodating as we can while still following the law, which is very clear," department spokesman Bob Sanchez said. "I think the judge has recognized that the law is not only clear but pretty reasonable."
Freeman, a convert to Islam who was previously known as Sandra Kellar, wore her veil for the photo on the Florida driver's license she obtained after moving to the state in 2001.
Nine months later, after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, she received a letter from the state saying it would revoke her license unless she returned for a photo with her face uncovered.
Freeman claims her religious beliefs require her to keep her head and face covered out of modesty and prohibit her from letting her face be photographed.
Her lawyers argued that instead of a driver's license photo, she could use documents such as a birth certificate or Social Security card to prove her identity.
A state attorney countered that Islamic law has exceptions that allow women to lift their veils and expose their faces if the action serves a public good.
During the hearing, Freeman conceded that she has had her face photographed without a veil since she started wearing one in 1997. A mug shot was taken after her arrest in 1998 on a domestic battery charge involving one of twin 3-year-old sisters who were in her foster care. The children were removed from her home, according to Decatur, Ill., police records.