Imams Stage Airport 'Pray-In' As Protest

[Sapphire Blue]

Imams Stage Airport 'Pray-In' As Protest
By LESLIE MILLER
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Imams, ministers and a rabbi staged a "pray-in" demonstration Monday at Reagan Washington National Airport and asked an apology from US Airways for barring six Muslims from a Minneapolis to Phoenix flight last week.

The religious leaders called for an end to racial profiling, saying it was unacceptable in America.

Imam Omar Shahin, one of the six imams detained last Monday at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, said they hadn't done anything suspicious.

The imams, who were returning from a religious conference, had prayed on their prayer rugs in the airport before the flight. After they boarded the flight, a passenger passed a note to a flight attendant. The men were taken off the airplane, handcuffed and questioned.

"It was the worst moment in my life," Shahin said.

Continued @ http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/P/PASSENGERS_REMOVED

[longship]

1. This is a great move.

:kick:ed

[SeattleGirl]

2. Good for them.

From my understanding, the imams had notified TSA and the FBI prior to going to Minneapolis for their meeting, just to let them know they were going to their meeting there. TSA and the FBI had no problem with this (my understanding anyway), but someone has to get freaked out. If this passenger knew anything (which obviously he/she didn't), there would have been a couple of clues: first, I don't think the imams, if they WERE terrorists, would have prayed out in the open like that. Second, they would have shaved themselves. I am so fucking tired of the paranoia in this country, paranoia that turns people into objects not worthy of respect, and that demonizes a religion just because there happen to be SOME fanatics that practice it. Hey, stupid passenger: every religion has its fanatics! Are you going to give a note to the flight attendant if you see a Catholic cross themselves before boarding a plane?