Canadian Muslim Doctor Escorted Off Airplane For Suspicious Praying

[Jenn! 918]

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.

"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.

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.

http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/20...r-winnipeg.html

[Mirorgate 0]

Interesting. Tried searching the Denver Post to verify but have yet to see results. I did get back a server internal error 500 (had issues getting results for my qry parameters) so is not conclusive yet. But since I live here and havent heard anythign on the news... thought maybe I missed it.

[Kathryn41 3,205]

Yeah, I saw that this morning as well. Seems to me they should have taken the drunk off - he was actually threatening people instead of quietly praying,

[Ban Hammer 13,332]

so much for him trying to blend in........

[Alex+R 0]

Wow, how can UA stand by their decision and not compensate the guy!? They should not be trying to justify their mistake--they should be apologizing.

[Mirorgate 0]

In local news.. nothing major except JonBenet and Karr the child marrying type

[Nizzy 1]

I think they should stop serving alcohol on airplanes. They have all these restrictions, but drunk people in planes never seems to be a problem. I have seen my fare share of drunks on planes and it's ridiculous...forget snakes on planes they should do a movie about drunks on planes...

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

I think they should stop serving alcohol on airplanes.

I agree completely.

I also agree with Alex+R, that the airline needs to apologize for this and compensate the man for his extra expense.

[Fuzzness 2]

he should definately have been compensated. and i believe that it should be against the law to be intoxicated on a plane. i don't need a drink on a plane and neither should anyone else.

[Fandango 1,439]

What they did to the guy was dead wrong...

..but as far as no drinkie poos on a plane I gotta stand up for the lushes and say NOOOOOOOOOO DON'T DO THAT!

[Veiled Princess 1]

I think they should stop serving alcohol on airplanes.

I agree completely.

I also agree with Alex+R, that the airline needs to apologize for this and compensate the man for his extra expense.

I'm shocked.

I also agree 100%

Edited August 20, 2006 by Veiled Princess

[I'm Gone 60]

he should definately have been compensated. and i believe that it should be against the law to be intoxicated on a plane.

As long as it's not the pilot, I see no problem with getting smashed on the plane as long as you don't make an @ss of yourself.

[Veiled Princess 1]

he should definately have been compensated. and i believe that it should be against the law to be intoxicated on a plane.

As long as it's not the pilot, I see no problem with getting smashed on the plane as long as you don't make an @ss of yourself.

Unfortunately, once one is already smashed, it's too late to determine if he will transform into a donkey.

[I'm Gone 60]

Was the guy sitting quietly in his seat with his head down or did he have a rug spread out in the aisle?

[Veiled Princess 1]

Was the guy sitting quietly in his seat with his head down or did he have a rug spread out in the aisle?

Does it matter?

The article says he was reciting his prayers so he could have just been sitting in his seat reciting some part of the Quran.