By David Kupelian
Declaring the 'flying imams' case – settled out-of-court yesterday in favor of the imams – to be as important to Muslims as the iconic Rosa Parks case was to blacks during the 1950s, the head of a controversial Islamic nonprofit organization in the nation's capital revealed the strategy his organization embraced in pursuing the imam's legal case: Sue everyone in sight, including passengers who, frightened by what they considered bizarre behavior, alerted authorities that a terror attack might be imminent.
When terrified passengers reported suspicious behavior on the part of seemingly unruly Muslims onboard the a US Airways Minneapolis-to-Phoenix flight, what they did 'was uncalled for, it is pure discrimination, and pure prejudice on the part of those who reported the case, pure prejudice, and discriminatory attitude on the part of those who decided to inform the authorities to come and arrest them,' insisted Nihad Awad, the national executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. The comments were made at the Adams Center in Herndon Virginia, at an April 2007 meeting at which Awad and CAIR'S legal director were speaking about the six imams case. (Listen to audio of some of Awad's comments below, courtesy of CSP-TV.)
The notorious case resulted when six Muslim clerics were booted off the Nov. 20, 2006, flight after engaging in behavior that alarmed passengers and crew members alike prior to takeoff. The imams reportedly prayed loudly in Arabic in the departure lounge, then once on board refused to sit in their assigned seats, instead fanning out in the cabin in pairs to occupy the front, middle and rear exit rows, ordered seat-belt extenders that weren't needed, criticized President Bush and the Iraq war, talked about al-Qaida and Osama bin Laden and so on.
After being asked to deplane, missing their flight, being detained and questioned by law enforcement authorities for several hours and denied service on a later US Airways flight, the imams struck back.
In a high-profile lawsuit strategized and promoted by CAIR, as well as argued by a CAIR board-member attorney, Omar T. Mahammedi, the 'flying imams' sued not only US Airways and the Minneapolis airport authority, but even the fearful passengers, or 'John Does,' who had simply reported the suspicious activity.
After a congressional bill – drawn up specifically in response to CAIR's and the imams' insistence on suing regular citizens reporting suspicious activity – was passed, the passengers were dropped from the case. But Awad wasn't too happy about that, condemning the bill's sponsor, Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y.:
 Nihad Awad |
'Now the allegation is that we are targeting innocent civilians,' Awad said. 'What we are trying to do is target those that knowingly made false allegations because of their anti-Muslim sentiments. …
'Today you have people like Peter King, a Republican congressman, in the Congress, who after we filed the lawsuit on behalf of the Imams, issued a bill, protecting John Does, regular passengers, from being sued, if they, falsely even, falsely claim that a Muslim is suspect and has to be removed from a plane because they are praying … And he has some supporters in the Congress, to muddy the waters of this lawsuit …'
Although details of yesterday's settlement are confidential, attorneys for both sides acknowledged that payment will be made to the imams. ....
