Six Imams ‘Flying While Muslim’ Case Goes to Trial

CAIR ACTION ALERT #583:

Action: Six Imams ‘Flying While Muslim’ Case Goes to Trial
Minn. judge sides with imams on key issues in discrimination lawsuit

(WASHINGTON, D.C., 7/27/09) - CAIR is urging members of the Muslim community and other people who value a diverse and inclusive society to support justice in the case of the six American imams who say their rights were violated in 2006 when they were removed from a US Airways flight in Minnesota and arrested.

On Friday, CAIR released the breaking news that a judge in Minnesota sided with the imams on key issues in their lawsuit against those involved in their removal from the plane. U.S. District Judge Ann Montgomery cleared the way for a trial by denying several motions to dismiss the case and ruling that a law passed by Congress after the incident does not grant protection from lawsuits to those sued by the imams.

SEE: Imams Can Pursue Claims Against Police, Judge Rules (Star Tribune)
SEE ALSO: Judge Says Imams Booted from Flight Can Sue Police (MPR)

Judge Montgomery also ruled that the actions of the imams prior to their flight did not justify their detention. She noted that the imams were subjected to "extreme fear and humiliation of being falsely identified as dangerous terrorists."

Read the entire ruling here.

“The six imams ‘flying while Muslim’ case is a landmark in our nation’s civil rights movement, like other historic cases that have defined the struggle for equality and constitutional rights,” said CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad. “We urge all those who value freedom of religion and freedom from discrimination to support the imams in the final phase of their case.”

He said justice in this case will, inshallah, set a positive precedent against religious and ethnic profiling for travelers of all faiths. Awad noted that CAIR receives a number of reports each year from those who believe they were singled out for “flying while Muslim.”

Earlier this month, CAIR called on the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to investigate an incident in which a disabled Muslim traveler from Pennsylvania was forced to undergo a “humiliating” search by airport security personnel in Ohio.

IMMEDIATE ACTION REQUESTED TO MAKE THIS EFFORT SUCCEED:

1. Pray for the success of the case and the protection of the civil and religious rights of the traveling public.

2. Help make history by supporting the imams in the final phase of the case, the trial in August.

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