DAR AL HARB - GERMANY / U.S.A.: MOSLEMS CLAIM THEY WERE BEING RACIALLY PROFILED, NORTHWEST AIRLINES SAYS THEY WERE LATE

Muslims say they were profiled by airline
BY NIRAJ WARIKOO
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER

Claiming they were unfairly profiled, a group of Michigan Muslims said today that they were not allowed to board a flight to Detroit while returning home from a pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia.

At a news conference this morning at a mosque in Dearborn, they said they were unfairly treated because of their religion and background.

On Jan. 7, a group of Muslims who were largely Lebanese-American Shi'ites had landed in Germany and were going to take a connecting flight to Detroit. Northwest allowed some of them on the flight, but barred about 40 of them, the pilgrims said.

"Probably they were afraid of 40 Muslims on one flight," said Imam Hassan Al-Qazwini, head of the Islamic Center of America, a Shi'ite mosque in Dearborn.

Al-Qazwini, who was part of the group, said that he and other Muslims have had profiling problems before with Northwest Airlines.

Northwest officials, though, maintain that the passengers were not allowed on the flight because they were late.

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Organized by C.A.I.R. of course...

Pertinent Links:

1) Muslims say they were profiled by airline