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AMP Report – May 8, 2007
Imams receive death threat for
suing US Airways and passengers
A group of imams and their attorney have received a death threat for suing passengers who reported suspicious behavior that led to the imams being removed from a U.S. Airways flight last year.
The threatening letter sent to New York lawyer Omar Mohammedi said: "We have located the residences and identified the families of all parties" in the lawsuit filed in March.
"We plan, at random, to start systematically killing the people on our list if this suit proceeds. You, personally, have been identified as the prize kill. It is our belief that terrorists like you should understand the true meaning of terror," the letter says.
Omar Mohammedi, who filed a discrimination lawsuit in the Minneapolis Federal Court on behalf of the Imams in March, said the threat was specific.
A party calling itself "American Jihad" signed the latter. The sender scolds the lawyer and the Imams for filing the lawsuit.
Among other things, it says: "We have located the residences and identified the families of all parties (the plaintiffs and you). . .We plan, at random, to start systematically killing the people on our list if this suit proceeds. You, personally, have been identified as the prize kill. It is our belief that terrorists like you should understand the true meaning of terror."
Mohammedi, who is also a member of the New York City’s human rights commission, said: "The death threat is a result of some irresponsible public officials and media intentionally providing misinformation of the lawsuit while targeting an officer of the court who is simply doing his job."
In addition to suing US Airways and the Metropolitan Airports Commission, the lawsuit targets "John Does" who, Mohammedi says, made false reports against the Imams.
That sparked a wide reaction. A Phoenix-based Muslim group is raising funds for the legal defense of the unnamed passengers. And at least two Minneapolis-based attorneys are offering a pro bono service to them.
Here is what happened: six Imams were traveling from the Minneapolis - St. Paul airport. Police say the men where praying in the airport terminal. Some witnesses said they were praying loudly. Passengers became concerned with the repeated use of the word "Allah" during the prayers. Allah is the Arabic word for God and is always recited in prayers.
In addition, passengers became alarmed with the men's seating arrangements, requests by two for seatbelt extensions and alleged discussions about the U.S. involvement in the Iraq war. Passengers reported this as "suspicious behavior". The Imams were then detained, questioned and banned from U.S. Airways flights. So did the passengers over react?
"In this situation, absolutely, they falsely reported." Dr. Zaheer Hasan from Islamic Center of Greater Toledo says flying as a Muslim is disheartening. "As I board a plane, I see all the eyes tracking me. I see numerous visits by the airline crew. It affects me, but I can bear that."
The suit, filed in March in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis, names US Airways, the Metropolitan Airports Commission and "John Doe passengers ... who contacted US Airways to report the alleged 'suspicious' behavior of plaintiffs performing their prayer at the airport terminal."
The suit set off a firestorm of debate about security vs. civil rights and has been criticized by at least one Muslim group, the Phoenix-based American Islamic Forum for Democracy. Opponents of the suit say suing passengers will discourage others from reporting suspicious behavior.
Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman for the Washington office of the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), which also was named in the letter, said he's "shocked by the hysteria the lawsuit has provoked. "This [letter] isn't too surprising given the anti-Muslim stuff you see on some blogs," he said. "It's brought the wackos out of the woodwork."
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