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August 24, 2006
Muslim doctor kicked off United Air flight for praying
A Winnipeg doctor is demanding an official apology and compensation from United Airlines after being kicked off a flight in the U.S. this week, an incident he has characterized as "institutionalized discrimination." Dr. Ahmed Farooq, a Muslim, was escorted off an airplane in Denver on Tuesday. According to Farooq, reciting his evening prayers was interpreted by one passenger as an activity that was suspicious.
Dr. Ahmed Farooq was escorted off a plane in Denver because another passenger found his praying suspicious. "The whole situation is just really frustrating," Farooq said. "It makes you uneasy, because you realize you have to essentially watch every single thing you say and do, and it's worse for people who are of colour, who are identifiable as a minority."
Farooq said the allegation came from a passenger who appeared drunk and had previously threatened him during the trip. When flight personnel were alerted, the 27-year-old radiology resident and two colleagues -- a man and a woman -- were taken off their flight. They had been returning from a conference in San Francisco.
Source: [CBC News]
Farooq said that even officials from the Transportation Security Administration soon realized the flight crew had overreacted, but by the time that conclusion had been reached the trio were forced to stay in Denver for the night and catch a flight the next day -- at their own expense.
"There's no recourse," Farooq said. "There's no way to really be able to talk to anybody to really be able to reason it out. The police officers who talked to me afterwards and subsequent officials within the first three to five minutes, they were like, 'You know what? The crew made a mistake. We apologize that they took you off. They overreacted.'"
Brandon Borrman of United Airlines told the Winnipeg Free Press this week that the airline is obliged to take any allegations threatening passenger safety seriously, particularly in the wake of last week's arrests in the alleged bomb plot on flights from Britain to the U.S.
"Whenever these types of claims are made we have a duty to investigate," Borrman said. "Our flight crews are trained to make safety the No. 1 priority." Winnipeg MP Pat Martin has called on federal Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day to raise the issue with his American counterparts.
Posted at 12:01 PM in Disturbing report, Religion, Terrorism | Permalink
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Comments
Well, assuming the good Dr's version is correct, it's a shame he had to get off the plane and he deserves an apology. But, c'mon, if this is the extent of the torment that Muslims have to endure in the US after 9/11 and the War on Terror, it's pretty small potatoes. Frankly, it’s less oppression than they’d probably endure in their country of origin.
For hundreds of years many thousands of Sephardic Jews lived peacefully in many Muslim countries. Ask them about Islamic tolerance. First, see if you can find one, since virtually all were killed or driven out at the point of a sword long ago.
Ask Jill Carroll about the risks of being a westerner in the Middle East currently.
I could go on, but the point is that it all makes being kicked off an airplane seem pretty trivial in contrast. In light of the recent past, perhaps if the Dr. tried hard he could imagine why someone might be a bit nervous about a young Muslim man being on their flight.
We can't get along in this world if we hold others to higher standards than ourselves...
Posted by: Moderate | Sep 1, 2006 9:12:29 PM
It's a very sad state of affairs, but this is how it is and no side is to blame. as a Muslim in England I feel like people are suspicious of me and I have to watch everything I say in case people think I'm a terrorist. the truth is that most of us are not terrorists, but it is understandable that some might be suspicious and there is a lot of ignorance of Islam and the media is hysterical about us, but it is a big shame how this world is today.
9/11 was a horrific moment in time. 7/7 was horrific for London. What is happening in Iraq is horrific too. but as a Muslim I find I daren't say that what is happening in Iraq is bad in case people think that makes me a terrorist; whereas actually I think it's bad because I hate war and it makes me so, so very sad.
Posted by: AAAAAAAAAhmed | Sep 15, 2006 5:10:21 PM
they were right to boot him off,he should say his prayers to himself an not in front of strangers,besides he suppose to pray towards mecca how does he know what direction he is facing ,he's a doctor?most doctors don't know what side off the bed to get out of.stop the whinning achmed your not going to get free dates
Posted by: steve | Sep 20, 2006 11:47:46 PM
In his lifetime ENOCH POWELL was condemned as a racist, but now his words have shown he was a prophet and knew what was happening.;
" Here is the means of showing that the immigrant communities can organise to consolidate their members, to agitate and campaign against their fellow citizens, and to overawe and dominate the rest with the legal weapons which the ignorant and the ill-informed have provided. As I look ahead, I am filled with foreboding. Like the Roman, I seem to see ‘the River Tiber foaming with much blood’. That tragic and intractable phenomenon which we watch with horror on the other side of the Atlantic but which there is interwoven with the history and existence of the States itself, is coming upon us here by our own volition and our own neglect. Indeed, it has all but come. In numerical terms, it will be of American proportions long before the end of the century. Only resolute and urgent action will avert it even now. Whether there will be the public will to demand and obtain that action, I do not know. All I know is that to see, and not to speak, would be the great betrayal."
Posted by: ENOCH POWELL FAN | Sep 22, 2006 9:31:38 AM
