Attorney for Imams, Who Were Pulled Off Plane, Seeks "Accountability"
The lawyer for two Muslim clergy removed from a flight to Charlotte because the pilot allegedly would not fly with them on board said Sunday he'll seek "accountability" from the airlines "to assure this does not happen again."
"It was pure discrimination based on appearance," said Charlotte attorney Mo Idlibi, whose clients - wearing traditional Muslim garb - eventually made it to Charlotte on a later flight. "What happened runs completely counter to all of our fundamental principles here in the United States."
Idlibi would not say whether a lawsuit is in the offing, only that he'll push for compensation, disciplinary action against the pilot and training for pilots.
Ironically, Imams Masudur Rahman and Mohamed Zaghloul boarded the initial Atlantic Southeast Airlines flight in Memphis to come to Charlotte for a conference on "Islamophobia," or fear of Islam.
On Sunday, the 150 imams meeting at the Holiday Inn-Airport didn't have to look hard to find examples of alleged discrimination against members of their faith.
One of the speakers - Imam Al-Amin Latif, an African-American born in Anderson, South Carolina - said he had to drive down from New York after being told, twice, by American Airlines that it wouldn't let him fly to Charlotte.
Also in the conference room Sunday was Imam Ossama Bahloul. His efforts to build a bigger Islamic center in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, brought headline-making opposition - including vandalism, hate-filled graffiti and a court case charging that Islam is not a religion but a violent cult.
But Exhibit A at the eighth annual conference of the North American Imams Federation was what happened Friday with Rahman, a professor of Arabic at the University of Memphis, and Zaghloul.
Both were at the conference Sunday.
"I was humiliated and felt so bad that others would look down on us," said Zaghloul, who is originally from Egypt.
© 2011 McClatchy-Tribune Information Services
Truthout has licensed this content. It may not be reproduced by any other source and is not covered by our Creative Commons license.





Comments
Edith Moore
Wed, 2012-01-25 22:16
It?s hard to seek out educated folks on this topic, however you sound like you understand what you?re speaking about! Thanks
undreamed
Jonathan Baker
Thu, 2011-10-27 19:13
There may be noticeably a bundle to know about this. I assume you made sure good points in options also.
Betting horse racing tipsters Billhook Gothic medieval dresses Devastate
Ben Murphy
Thu, 2011-10-27 17:27
An impressive share, I simply given this onto a colleague who was doing a little evaluation on this. And he actually purchased me breakfast because I found it for him.. smile. So let me reword that: Thnx for the deal with! But yeah Thnkx for spending the time to debate this, I feel strongly about it and love reading more on this topic. If attainable, as you turn out to be experience, would you thoughts updating your weblog with more details? It's extremely helpful for me. Big thumb up for this blog put up!
Katy perry hot diataxia Payday Loans fluidrachm
Theodore McCall
Mon, 2011-10-17 23:26
This actually answered my drawback, thank you!
Direct lender online payday loans tradition Online Casino mindfulness
Alison Burton
Mon, 2011-10-10 22:39
Your place is valueble for me. Thanks!?
Payday Loans megalocytic Symptoms herpes infants nimble
Theodore McCall
Tue, 2011-10-04 22:19
Oh my goodness! an incredible article dude. Thanks Nevertheless I'm experiencing issue with ur rss . Don?t know why Unable to subscribe to it. Is there anyone getting identical rss drawback? Anybody who is aware of kindly respond. Thnkx
Revitol epichordal Digest It tinkle How to apply idol lash rummy Menozac nettler
Jerry Mercks
Alabama
Tue, 2011-05-10 09:28
The religious right (which, incidentally, is neither) joined forces with repubs under Nixon, declared war on science under St. Raygun, and declared war on general education under dubya.
From Alexander the Great to Napoleon to the current repubs it has been a well known fact that uneducated religious people are easier to herd than cattle and have a lower intelligence level too.
Religion is a delusion that has no place in the 21st century. That's the reason the teabaggers and cons want to take America back...back to the 12th century.
How people fall for the con of religion is beyond my understanding.
Get religion out of my government and out of my face. It's time to put it back into the cesspool it crawled out of.
Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from a religious conviction.
--- Blaise Pascal
Stacy Madison
Tue, 2011-05-10 06:47
The pilot of the airplane has just said "I can promise you the captain didn't throw those people off because of the way they were dressed. There's more to the story."
In contrast to these imams, some orthodox Jews were thrown off a plane in March. However, they are not claiming victimhood. They are not trying to weaken our security procedures. They are not holding press conferences and whining about "profiling".
We should be very suspicious of imams who get themselves thrown off of planes and then complain about it. They are making it easier for a future terrorist to stay on a plane when he should have been thrown off. Maybe this consequence is intentional and maybe it isn't.
Stacy Madison
Mon, 2011-05-09 19:06
This is a totally one-sided article. We have not heard the other side yet.
The last time we had the "flying imams", they claimed discrimination while it turns out they were behaving in a highly suspicious manner. I would hope that people in Islamic dress who behave in a suspicious manner are thrown off of airplanes. I personally would get off an airplane if there were men in Islamic dress doing suspicious things. That's because survival can sometimes depend on noticing patterns of conduct. I feel that in light of recent events, I have every right to get off an airplane on which there are Muslims who act suspiciously.
If Muslims don't like it that they are under more suspicion than non-Muslims, they can blame the Muslims who in the recent past have yelled "Allahu Akhbar" just before killing people.
Robert H
Colorado
Mon, 2011-05-09 15:27
I certainly hope that the pilot faces some sort of disciplinary action. I, for one, would not fly Delta or ASA unless something is done.
If one can be removed from a public conveyance for their attire, how does Dennis Rodman get around?
M R
Mon, 2011-05-09 12:09
Poor education breeds fear, and in turn fear breeds ignorance.
C'est la vie en Amérique.