Posted on 11/21/2006 10:25:33 AM PST by NormsRevenge
MINNEAPOLIS - 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.
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.
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.
Shahin said the group spent the night at the home of a local imam.
When Shahin went back to the airport Tuesday morning, a ticketing agent told him his payment for Monday's flight had been refunded and the airline wouldn't sell more tickets to him or the other imams. An airline spokesman in Arizona said he wasn't aware of the ticketing decision and could not comment.
"We do not tolerate discrimination of any kind and will continue to exhaust our internal investigation until we know the facts of this case and can provide answers for the employees and customers involved in this incident," the airline said in a news release Tuesday.
"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, D-Minn., 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 Sept. 11 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.
___
Associated Press writers Gregg Aamot, Jeff Baenen and Martiga Lohn contributed to this story.
And I demand removal of the group probe that happens at airport checkpoints!
"They took us off the plane, humiliated us in a very disrespectful way," Shahin said after the incident.
As opposed to that respectful humiliation, which is OK.
I can't understand the attitude of the people on the plane when these Imans stroll on. What is wrong with them? Why would they have such an attitude about the religion of peace?
You have to have a screw loose or intentionally being an irritant to the point of harassing people to have pulled what they did on a plane full of people. I venture the lose screw aspect.
We know enough about Islam that we know we have to defend ourselves.
Council on American Islamic Relations spokespersons Mohammed AbuHannoud, left, and Bushra Khan, right, answers reporters' questions during a news conference regarding the removal of six imams (Muslim religious leaders) from a US Airways flight, Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2006, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Paul Connors)
Hmmmmm.....don't know about singling out Muslims. They always seem to single out my 76 year old Irish Catholic mother in law to search when she tries to fly.
"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, CAIR's executive director
Well, WE are concerned that muslims hold a monopoly on blowing shit up due to prejudice based on stereotyping of infidels and the west. NOW GET OFF MY FREAKIN PLANE.
If they think they were treated badly, they should ask any Christian who has tried to board an aircraft in Mecca how they are treated....
oh wait...
and I demand an investigation of why all those dirty pigs were allowed here in the first place.
I demand a disrespectful investigation----so it matches the disrespectful treatment of these peaceful folks
I'd have been spooked. If they hadn't removed them from the plane, I'd have had to do something out of character so they would let me off the plane, and I'd have been in trouble no doubt.
This is going to be an ongoing problem. Maybe CAIR ought to be more concerned about why we are now afraid of them instead of whining. I never was afraid before in this country vis á vis Muslims, but you can bet your bottom dollar that I am now.
The fact that they are unable to function if they don't say their prayers right on time and so disruptively doesn't send a very positive message. It is just another indication of just how rigid their religion is. It's a psychological conditioning thing. If they don't say their prayers on time and in the prescribed manner, they would have internal conflicts, and some would no doubt act out about it.
People, if they must pray in public, should say their prayers quietly and unassumingly. A silent prayer should be sufficient. Pray at home or in your house of worship.
"Shahin expressed frustration that — despite extensive efforts by him and other Muslim leaders since even before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks — so many Americans know so little about Islam."
CAIR and all other subversive groups should be banned.
Must see this.....*Anti-CAIR* Defending America from The Council on American-Islamic ...
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