Muslim family thrown off U.S. jet for 'remarks'

[Al-khiyal]

Muslim family thrown off U.S. jet for 'remarks'

January 3, 2009 -- Nine Muslims, eight of them US-born citizens, were ordered off a US flight on New Year's Day after two girls overheard what airline officials described as suspicious remarks.

The group, including three children, were removed as they boarded an AirTran flight from Washington to Florida, where they planned to attend a religious retreat. One of the nine, Kashif Irfan, an anaesthetist, said his brother and his wife were discussing the safest place to sit. "[They] were discussing some aspect of airport security," he told local TV. "The only thing he said was: 'Wow, the jets are right next to my window.' I think they were remarking about safety."

After other passengers informed the crew of the remarks, the pilot decided to abort the flight. All 104 passengers were cleared by the FBI, but AirTran refused to take the Muslims, who were forced to pay for a ticket with another carrier. A spokesman for the airline defended the decision. "People made comments they shouldn't have made on the airplane," Tad Hutcheson said. "Other people heard them, misconstrued them. It just so happened these people were of Muslim faith and appearance. It escalated, it got out of hand and everyone took precautions."

A spokeswoman for the Transportation Security Agency backed the airline. "Security is everybody's responsibility," Ellen Howe said. "Someone heard something ... inappropriate, and then the airline decided to act on it. We support [the pilot's] call to do that."

Irfan said he thought the group, of south Asian descent, had been targeted because of their appearance. The women were wearing headscarves and the men sported beards.

"It was an ordeal," said Abdur Razack Aziz, another one of the group. "It was paranoid people. It was very sad."

[Bent_Bladi]

[amalgamate]

you know how back home if you say something against the government or attempt to think of saying something against the government, they chastise you and lock u up in a dungeon where you'll never see the light of day??

well, we used to gloat how in America we've got 'freedom' to do or say whatever we want...

well, look at what we're in now- we can't utter a normal word because paranoid ppl could take it as a threat and you too might get stuffed in a dungeon and never see the light of day!


it's ironic isn't it

[Bent_Bladi]

whoever used to "gloat" about having freedom is naive --- even before 9/11 we never had "freedom" ... there really isn't such thing as freedom --- only ~inner freedom~ but that nonsense people keep talking about is as real as purple unicorns