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Six imams
disembarked from US flight
Foreign Desk Report
MINNEAPOLIS (US)—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.
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. |