6 Middle Eastern men removed from flight at MSP

[Midnight Mike]

EYEWITNESS NEWS has learned that federal investigators and airport police are questioning six Middle Eastern men who had to be escorted off of a plane Monday afternoon at Minneapolis/St. Paul International.

U.S. Airway officials tell 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS' Aviation Expert Bob McNaney that Monday while Flight 300 was preparing to take off from Minneapolis to Phoenix, a passenger passed a note to a flight attendant saying they noticed 'suspicious behavior,' among the men.

The men would not get off the plane when asked, 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS has learned, and had to be removed by police.

Sources tell 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS that the men were chanting 'Allah, Allah, Allah,' as they were transported down the jetway.

Late Monday, federal investigators were still trying to determine exactly who the men are. One source tells 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS that the men said that they were in town for the weekend for a religious conference.

The other passengers on the flight, which was carrying 170 people, were re-screened for boarding, and it took off about three hours late.

[Midnight Mike]

he Associated Press
Updated: 11:03 p.m. AKT Nov 20, 2006
MINNEAPOLIS - Six Muslim imams were removed from a US Airways flight at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport on Monday and questioned by police for several hours before being released, a leader of the group said.

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

A passenger initially raised concerns about the group through a note passed to a flight attendant, according to Andrea Rader, a spokeswoman for US Airways. She said police were called after the captain and airport security workers asked the men to leave the plane and the men refused.

“They took us off the plane, humiliated us in a very disrespectful way,” said Omar Shahin, of Phoenix.

‘Six scholars in handcuffs’
The six Muslim scholars were returning from a conference in Minneapolis of the North American Imams Federation, said Shahin, president of the group. Five of them were from the Phoenix-Tempe area, while one was from Bakersfield, Calif., he said.

Three of them stood and said their normal evening prayers together on the plane, as 1.7 billion Muslims around the world do every day, Shahin said. He attributed any concerns by passengers or crew to ignorance about Islam.

“I never felt bad in my life like that,” he said. “I never. Six imams. Six leaders in this country. Six scholars in handcuffs. It’s terrible.”

Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations, expressed anger at the detentions.

“CAIR will be filing a complaint with relevant authorities in the morning over the treatment of the imams to determine whether the incident was caused by anti-Muslim hysteria by the passengers and/or the airline crew,” Hooper said. “Because, 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.”

Prominent Islamic conference
Hooper said the meeting drew about 150 imams from all over the country, and that those attending included U.S. Rep.-elect Keith Ellison, D-Minneapolis, 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, 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.

Reached by cell phone just after his release, Shahin said he didn’t know where they would spend the night or how they would try to get back to Phoenix on Tuesday. Hooper said US Airways refused to put the men on another flight.

Hogan said more information would likely be released 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 from the flight.

[nwafan20]

You would think it would help their case if they weren't yelling "Allah Allah Allah" while being escorted off, or they should have explained they were praying. I think US acted within their rights on this case

[Midnight Mike]

You would think it would help their case if they weren't yelling "Allah Allah Allah" while being escorted off, or they should have explained they were praying. I think US acted within their rights on this case

I agree & I think these guys were trying to prove a point:

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

Also, it is a Federal Crime when the Flight Crew ask you to leave the airplane, so, when the Police were called, it is pretty much standard procedure that handcuffs will be used.

[Derf]

I agree but you also need to understand that I would have been saying
things like....Jesus, these guys out of their minds...good god you guys do
not have a clue.... You have got to be out of your F#%#in minds.... if I got kicked off an aircraft for saying a prayer

OK, the last one was the NY in me! ;) You get the Idea

[Derf]

Also, it is a Federal Crime when the Flight Crew ask you to leave the airplane, so, when the Police were called, it is pretty much standard procedure that handcuffs will be used.

This is true, but with them doing nothing wrong...(scaring ignorant people
is not a crime, I would have been just as ignorant and scared as others
around them!) and they probably did not have a good time up until that
point anyway (bunch of religious male Muslims getting on a plane)....
While chanting did not help, it was not hurting them at that point as they
were thrown off the aircraft and still not committing a crime by chanting.

Don't get me wrong.... I would have been very relived to be a passenger
on the aircraft watching them escorted off. I would not have wanted them
on the aircraft with me and my family. Hmmmm, just a ****ty situation
that had lots of emotion on both sides. Sounds like they got the ****ty
end of the stick and were venting. I can not blame them, the flight crew,
passengers..... Hmmm

[RDU-JFK]

Given the events that happened on 9/11/01 it is perfectly acceptable to remove these people from the plane, especially if they were being disagreeable.

[Derf]

Given the events that happened on 9/11/01 it is perfectly acceptable to remove these people from the plane, especially if they were being disagreeable.

I agree....but as impossible as it is, take you worst aviation trip and then
pile on extra searches and lot of people looking at you as if you had 4
heads.... they were probably not it the best mood at that point. It has
to be very hard to travel with a turban on these days.... and to think that
traveling with my family is hard!

Like I said, If I would have seen them getting booted off my plane, I would
be cheering like at a rock concert (on the inside). I guess I am a bad
person and a hypocrite.

[RDU-JFK]

Good points, Derf, good points.

[Derf]

Thanks, but I still think I am a bad person and a hypocrite.

[T-Bird76]

Sounds like a classic case of Capt America striking again. Perhaps if this informative piece of journalism told us what kind of concern they raised I might support these actions a bit more. The chants of Allah certainly didn't help their case any though.

[Midnight Mike]

More information coming in:

A federal security official says a passenger did, indeed, express concern by passing a note to a flight attendant. But the official says the passenger reported hearing the men not only make references to "Allah" but also express pro-Saddam and anti-U.S. sentiments.

The official says some of the imams did not sit in their assigned seats and moved to empty seats. US Airways also says the men refused to budge when asked to leave the plane by the pilot and airport security officers.

[Nonstop2AUH]

Sounds like a real overreaction all around to something that could have been easily cleared up. 5 years after 9/11 people should realize that if there's another attack, it's going to come as a complete surprise, not from people who are so overtly religious that they might as well be wearing a sign that says "Muslim." And not necessarily on an airplane either.

[nwafan20]

They were acting suspicious, if I were the pilot, I would have ordered them to leave if they were doing things like that, I don't have anything against Muslims but chanting Allah, anti-US sentiments and pro-Sadam talk, plus not sitting in their assigned seats. What would you do in that situation?

[PhilDernerJr]

I was just watching Cops on TV. After a reported shooting, officers pull over a car and tell the driver to get out. He gets out and doesn't listen to cops whenthey tell him to put his hands up. Instead, he reaches in his pockets. Shockingly, the officer does NOT shoot him, but tackels him. The perp then says "I didn't do anything."

Just resisting and not cooperating is enough to warrant becoming a suspect for something. Whether these guys were planning or causing trouble or not, there was no need for them to resis the way that they did and intentionally escalate the situation.