Imams get the boot. - Political Forum

FRYandBENDER · 11-29-2006, 05:25 PM

Group seeks probe after imams removed from plane
POSTED: 1:08 p.m. EST, November 21, 2006
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MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota (AP) -- The Council on American-Islamic Relations called Tuesday for an investigation into the behavior of airline staff and airport security in the removal of six Muslim scholars from a US Airways flight a day earlier.

A passenger raised concerns about the imams -- three of whom said their normal evening prayers in the airport terminal before boarding the Phoenix-bound plane, according to one -- through a note passed to a flight attendant, according to Andrea Rader, a spokeswoman for US Airways.

"We are concerned that crew members, passengers and security personnel may have succumbed to fear and prejudice based on stereotyping of Muslims and Islam," Nihad Awad, the council's executive director, said in a news release. (Watch passengers describe how the cops, airplane crew and imams acted Video)

The six were returning from a conference in Minneapolis of the North American Imams Federation, said Omar Shahin of Phoenix, president of the group.

"They took us off the plane, humiliated us in a very disrespectful way," Shahin said after the incident.

Shahin said Tuesday that three members of the group prayed in the terminal before the six boarded the plane. They entered individually, except for one member who is blind and needed to be guided, Shahin said. Once on the plane, the six did not sit together, he said.

"We did nothing" on the plane, Shahin said.

The six were among passengers who boarded Flight 300, bound for Phoenix, around 6:30 p.m. Monday, airport spokesman Pat Hogan said.

Police were called after the captain and airport security workers asked the men to leave the plane and the men refused, Rader said.

Shahin said no one asked the six to leave until police arrived, when the group complied.

"Unfortunately, this is a growing problem of singling out Muslims or people perceived to be Muslims at airports, and it's one that we've been addressing for some time," council spokesman Ibrahim Hooper said.

Hooper said the meeting drew about 150 imams from all over the country, and that those attending included Rep.-elect Keith Ellison, a Minnesota Democrat, who just became the first Muslim elected to Congress. Shahin said they went as far as notifying police and the FBI about their meeting in advance.

Shahin expressed frustration that -- despite extensive efforts by him and other Muslim leaders since even before the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks -- so many Americans know so little about Islam.

"If up to now they don't know about prayers, this is a real problem," he said.

Shahin said the group spent the night at the home of a local imam and was waiting for a phone call Tuesday from US Airways. Hooper said US Airways refused to put the men on another flight.

The airline did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment on that aspect Tuesday.

The other passengers on the flight, which was carrying 141 passengers and five crew members, were re-screened for boarding, Rader said. The plane took off about three hours after the men were removed.

Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

FRYandBENDER · 11-29-2006, 05:40 PM

Well, it seems that so far everyone is carrying this same AP report, but I just heard a lady on the radio, who was on the plane said that another woman who speaks Arabic (or Persian, which ever the case may be) said that they were spouting anti-american rhetoric. I guess the AP and CAIR forgot to include that. They also asked for seat belt extenders (nun-chucks?

) which they did not use and this lady on the radio heard one of them talking on a cell phone to someone before the police came, and she said that he was talking really fast and it sounded like he was reporting to someone, though since she doesn't speak the language, she can't be sure what he was saying.

Islamo-phobia or common sense?

Oh yeah, and now they are talking about sueing, I believe. I think they were either fishing for a lawsuit, or maybe testing the security waters. Or then again, maybe it is all just a misunderstanding.

FRYandBENDER · 11-29-2006, 05:44 PM

Oh yeah, and they also were not sitting in their right seats, they were apparently sitting in what could be seen as a strategic pattern. Like at the end of the rows at the exits.

Scribbler1 · 12-03-2006, 05:31 PM

According to what I just heard on Fox, they were sitting in twos, the had 6 one-way tickets and they only had ONE checked bag among them.

I figure they saw an easy lawsuit or they were doing a test run to see if they could get away with the suspicious behavior.

They also report a passenger who could understand them said they were praising Saddam, Bin Laden and condemning the US.

Tumbleweed · 12-03-2006, 06:01 PM

After reading all the articals about the incident, their seating arrangement was the biggest flag that something was up. That and the seat belt request.

FRYandBENDER · 12-03-2006, 07:27 PM

Yep. I'm glad that the other passengers didn't let political correctness keep them from saying something.