A group of Muslim imams is seeking an out-of-court settlement with US Airways, saying they should not have been removed from a Minnesota-to-Phoenix flight last month and were not behaving suspiciously.
Five of the six Islamic religious leaders have retained the Council on American-Islamic Relations for legal representation and are seeking a "mutually agreeable" resolution, said Nihad Awad, CAIR executive director.
US Airways scheduled a meeting with the imams on Dec. 4 to discuss the incident, but the men canceled it and hired the activist group to act as legal counsel.
"With the hopes of reaching an amicable resolution to this matter, we would like to take this opportunity to ask for a formal meeting with US Airways executives and legal counsel," said Arsalan Iftikhar, CAIR's national legal director, in a letter to the airline.
The imams represented by CAIR include Omar Shahin, Didmar Faja, Ahmad Shqeirat, Marwan Sadeddin and Mohamed Ibrahim.
Mahmoud Sulaiman of New Mexico is the only imam not included as a plaintiff.
Mr. Sulaiman is the passenger who asked another passenger to switch seats with him to accommodate a blind imam and was one of three imams who asked for a seat-belt extension even though the police report cites his weight at 170 pounds.
The Washington Times first reported on Nov. 28 that the imams were not in their assigned seats, but seated in a formation similar to the September 11 hijackers and controlled the exits to the plane. The men also requested seat-belt extensions but did not appear to need them, and engaged in conversations critical of the United States, according to police reports and eyewitness statements.
The imams and CAIR officials maintain that press reports as well as Internet sites and blogs have circulated charges they say misrepresent the facts of the Nov. 20 incident.
"Unfortunately, the false claims and smears used against these religious leaders only serve to cloud the real issue involved, that of how national security can be maintained while preserving constitutionally protected freedoms and respect for religious diversity," said Mr. Awad.
CAIR says the men were handcuffed for several hours and is also demanding hearings on religious and ethnic profiling at airports.
Mr. Shahin told The Washington Times he was only handcuffed for "10 or 15 minutes" and that the imams were not led off the plane in handcuffs.

More of the story here:

A group of Muslim imams is seeking an out-of-court settlement with US Airways, saying they should not have been removed from a Minnesota-to-Phoenix flight last month and were not behaving suspiciously.
Five of the six Islamic religious leaders have retained the Council on American-Islamic Relations for legal representation and are seeking a "mutually agreeable" resolution, said Nihad Awad, CAIR executive director.
US Airways scheduled a meeting with the imams on Dec. 4 to discuss the incident, but the men canceled it and hired the activist group to act as legal counsel.
"With the hopes of reaching an amicable resolution to this matter, we would like to take this opportunity to ask for a formal meeting with US Airways executives and legal counsel," said Arsalan Iftikhar, CAIR's national legal director, in a letter to the airline.
The imams represented by CAIR include Omar Shahin, Didmar Faja, Ahmad Shqeirat, Marwan Sadeddin and Mohamed Ibrahim.
Mahmoud Sulaiman of New Mexico is the only imam not included as a plaintiff.
Mr. Sulaiman is the passenger who asked another passenger to switch seats with him to accommodate a blind imam and was one of three imams who asked for a seat-belt extension even though the police report cites his weight at 170 pounds.
The Washington Times first reported on Nov. 28 that the imams were not in their assigned seats, but seated in a formation similar to the September 11 hijackers and controlled the exits to the plane. The men also requested seat-belt extensions but did not appear to need them, and engaged in conversations critical of the United States, according to police reports and eyewitness statements.
The imams and CAIR officials maintain that press reports as well as Internet sites and blogs have circulated charges they say misrepresent the facts of the Nov. 20 incident.
"Unfortunately, the false claims and smears used against these religious leaders only serve to cloud the real issue involved, that of how national security can be maintained while preserving constitutionally protected freedoms and respect for religious diversity," said Mr. Awad.
CAIR says the men were handcuffed for several hours and is also demanding hearings on religious and ethnic profiling at airports.
Mr. Shahin told The Washington Times he was only handcuffed for "10 or 15 minutes" and that the imams were not led off the plane in handcuffs.

They would not get a damn dime from me. Nothing but a set up and a shake down. Piss on em.

Hopefully US Airways sticks to their guns.
The airlines have a right to refuse service to anybody for virtually any reason, with the obvious exceptions.
There is/was a show called "Airline" that repeatedly demonstrated that simple fact. Even being loud and argumentative can be enough of a reason for denied service.

And not only do they have the right to refuse service, by law they also have an obligation.
US Airways shouldn't apologize for their efforts to ensure the safety of the other passengers. This has nothing really to do with religion, except as an excuse for the imams.


On another level, I would be really curious to hear the story from the one hold-out in the 'law-suit'. The imam who refused to join the law-suit...
Why?

I'll take it a step further and say there were trying to soften us up, so they can set up another attack. These men should be in prison

I say we let them fly.

And make sure that their own people are piloting the jet.


And then... oops!

But, but, they are allowed to practice their religion no matter how offensive or threatening their actions are. This is America after all. Diversity, acceptance, etc, and, and, uh, em, oh, ah, harumph, harumph.