EasyJet and British police at fault.
In yet another incident of racial profiling, three Indian-origin Muslim siblings were ordered off a plane last week at London’s Stansted Airport and questioned for one hour by the British police after one of the passengers complained that they were ISIS supporters.
Sakina Dharas, 24, her sister Maryam, 19, and their brother Ali, 21, were hauled off the EasyJet flight to the Italian city of Naples by a crew who asked them to follow her off the aircraft without any explanation.
The trio was questioned on the tarmac by the British police for one hour after being hauled off from the flight.
First, the policemen asked them whether they speak English.
“The first thing the policeman asks us is if we speak English, which I personally find quite patronizing. Just because we look ethnic. I don’t speak any other language but English,” Maryam told The Guardian.
Then the officers informed them that a couple had complained that they saw the women reading ISIS material. The police asked them whether they had some Arabic texts in their phone.
“We were asked ‘have you had any Arabic on your phone? Have you been reading the Qur’an?’ We don’t even speak Arabic, we don’t know Arabic, we’re not even Arabs,” said Maryam.
Maryam had been using her phone to send messages to her father via WhatsApp. She showed her WhatsApp messages to the police.
“Regardless, we’ve had nothing on our phone remotely Arabic related this morning. Also, we’re Indian by ethnicity, so we wouldn’t even have Arabic in conversation with anyone,” they told the officers, according to Sakina.
Maryam said that they were racially profiled as she and her sister had worn hijab (headscarves). “My sister and I wear headscarves. We thought, there’s clearly profiling going on here,” she said.
The officers asked about their parents, family background, address, and even checked the social media accounts to see whether they can find any evidence connecting the siblings and the militant outfit.
Sakina was separated from Maryam and Ali and questioned by the officials from the special branch. Sakina’s passport was verified by the officers and she had to explain why she visited Iraq as the passport had a stamp from a visit to Iraq.
“There was no evidence here. We were being treated like criminals. The couple had lied and got away with it. It was offensive and hurtful. They tarnished our names in front of everyone on the flight, it was really humiliating,” said Maryam.
After the one-hour-long interrogation, they were allowed to return to the flight which was delayed due to the questioning. The policemen warned Sakina that they would check their background further and if they found anything, they would wait for the trio at the airport when they return.
They returned on 20th, but nobody was waiting for them.
“We were only allowed back on that plane, to continue our journey, because there wasn’t a shred of doubt on the part of investigators that we were innocent of the crimes accused — but somebody has been lying and misleading the authorities. Why weren’t those passengers who made the false claim about us removed from the plane for wasting valuable police time?” Maryam asked.
Though EasyJet has apologized for the inconvenience, they said that security concerns had to be investigated.
“The police then confirmed to the captain that the passengers were cleared to complete their journey and they re-boarded the aircraft and the flight departed to Naples,” as EasyJet spokesperson said.