A Muslim woman has sued the state for suspending her drivers license after she refused to remove her face-covering veil for the photo.

Sultaana Freeman, 34, said she was allowed to wear her niqab, which only reveals her eyes, for her drivers license photo in Illinois and for a Florida license issued to her in February. State officials demanded Freeman take a photo without her veil in November, following record checks prompted by the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Freeman filed suit earlier this month in Orange County. "I don't show my face to strangers or unrelated males," Freeman said. Florida law states that license applicants be issued "a color photographic or digital imaged drivers license bearing a full-face photograph." Robert Sanchez, a spokesman for the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, said his agency has no choice but to enforce that law. But ACLU lawyer Howard Marks said the law is vague and pointed to another Florida law stating the "government shall not substantially burden a person's exercise of religion." Freeman, a former evangelist preacher, converted to Islam about five years ago. At least three other Muslim women have been refused Florida drivers licenses because of their headdresses, said Altaf Ali, executive director of the Florida chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. Ali said he has asked the state to clarify its policy on religiously mandated clothes.