Here’s what happened, as I described it in text messages to him: I was at the station at LAX where the TSA checks IDs. The officer was “glaring” at me and mumbling. I said, “Excuse me?” and he said, “You’re only 15, COVER YOURSELF!” Absolutely inappropriate, harassing, aggressive, creepy, unprofessional, and Taliban-y thing that he did.

I lie on my back surrounded by four soldiers, two of whom are dragging me by the arms raised above my head. I’m unresisting – maybe I’ve fainted; you can’t tell because you can’t see my face. I’m wearing blue jeans and trainers. But my top half is bare: you can see my torso, my tummy, my blue bra, my bare delicate arms. Surrounding this top half, forming a kind of black halo around it, is the abaya, the robe I was wearing that has been ripped off and that tells you that I was wearing a hijab.