CAIRO – Hijabi elite Olympic fencer Ibtihaj Muhammad, the first Muslim to compete for Team USA in Rio De Janeiro Olympics, was asked to remove her hijab in order to take a festival credential photograph in Austen, Texas.

“I was just asked to remove my hijab at SXSW Registration for my ID badge. I can’t make this stuff up,” Muhammad tweeted after the incident.

“Even after I explained it was for religious reasons, he insisted I had to remove my hijab for the photo to receive my badge #SXSW2016,” she added.

The incident occurred when Muhammad prepared to be part of a panel called “The New Church: Sport as Currency of American Life” at South by Southwest festival on Saturday, March 12.

Refusing to remove her hijab, a religious obligation for Muslim women, Muhammad tweeted a photo of a conference badge she ultimately received that did have her photo but carried the incorrect name.

“Thennnnn I was given the wrong ID! From now on my name is Tamir & I work for Time Warner Inc #SXSW2016,” she tweeted.

As the incident spread on media, SXSW representatives said they were embarrassed by the incident.

Apologizing for the incident, the SXSW organizers said the registration booth volunteer was dismissed.

“It is not our policy that a hijab or any religious head covering be removed in order to pick up a SXSW badge,” organizers said in a statement to the Chicago Tribune.

“This was one volunteer who made an insensitive request and that person has been removed for the duration of the event. We are embarrassed by this and have apologized to Ibtihaj in person, and sincerely regret this incident.”

Islam sees hijab as an obligatory code of dress, not a religious symbol displaying one’s affiliations.

Muhammad’s fencing days started when she was only 13 when her mother drove past a school and saw athletes training in full body covering gear.

The uniform which they wear for fencing basically inspired her, seeing it as allowing her girl to be an athlete in hijab.

Today she is the world’s 10th swords woman, and is America’s first Muslim Fencer in the world.

After earning bronze at the Athens world cup on Saturday, Muhammad mathematically secured her spot on the 2016 Olympic team.

Muhammad has also been part of the US teams that have medaled at the past five world championships, including winning gold in 2014.