by Mac for ASKEW
November 21, 2006

Six Muslim men were removed from a commercial flight in Minneapolis late Monday by airport security after what fellow passengers and crew felt was "suspicious" behavior. Addressing the media in a press conference Tuesday from the mens' home city Pheonix, Civil Rights Director Abu Hannoud, from the Arizona Chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), said "They were treated like terrorists and humiliated!"

The six were praying at the gate before boarding their flight back to Pheonix from Minnesota, where they had attended a conference on Islamic-American community relations, sponsored by the North American Imams Federation. Passengers on the flight reported that once aboard, the men continued to pray, asked to switch assigned seats with other passengers, and made anti-American comments about the war in Iraq.

After airport security was alerted, the six were removed from the flight in handcuffs, after which they were questioned by the FBI and released. An investigation into whether the airline acted according to existing policy i underway.