Mohamed Ahmed Radwan is a 40-year-old engineer from Florida. (Photo: The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR))
Brilio.net/en - The Council on American-Islamic Relations Muslim man was escorted off an American Airlines flight after confronting a flight attendant who repeatedly told him I will be watching you.
Mohamed Ahmed Radwan had boarded the flight from Charlotte, North Carolina, to Detroit, Michigan, on December 6, 2015, when the incident occurred. The issue only came to light recently through a letter from a CAIR staff attorney.
According to the letter, as the plane was prepping for takeoff, an unnamed flight attendant announced, loudly enough for other passengers to hear: "Mohamed Ahmed, seat 25-A: I will be watching you." Not long after, she allegedly repeated the phrase, saying "Mohamed Ahmed, that is a very long name, seat 25-A, 'I will be watching you."
Radwan, an engineer from Florida, then got out of his seat and confronted the woman, who told him he was being overly sensitive and that she was just looking out for all the passengers on board.
Due to the flight attendants discomfort, the cabin crew decided to have Radwan escorted off the flight and he was left having to pay $1,500 for another ticket.
I was in total shock. I've been flying for over 30 years, and I've never heard something like that," he said."I've been a US citizen for 13 years, but at that moment I felt my sense of being American taken from me," Radwan said.
via Twitter/@MohmedHolmes
CAIR took immediate action filing a complaintto the US Department of Transportation, accusing American Airlines of discriminatory conduct. The complaint says:
Given the continuing rise of anti-Muslim rhetoric and hate crimes occurring throughout the United States, this type of reckless and harmful conduct should not be tolerated by our nation's airlines, which are legally charged with safely carrying all individuals who are rightfully present in an equal and nondiscriminatory manner, without regard to their religious affiliation or ethnicity.
There have been similar cases of alleged discrimination against Muslims in recent months.
In April, a Muslim woman was removed from a Southwest Airlines plane at a Chicago airport after a flight attendant told her she made them "uncomfortable". In March, a Muslim family of five was also escorted off a United Airlines flight in March for "how they looked."
(brl/red)
