Thursday, December 21, 2006

Roche Tasse Civil Liberty Monitoring Group Draws Parallels Between our Profiling Attack and others AND BACKS US IN OUR PLIGHT

Northwest Airlines Profiling Attack/Covert Tribunal Main Site: http://justiceforjamesfamily.blogspot.com



WE NOW HAVE THE BACKING OF ROCHE TASSE CIVIL LIBERTIES MONITORING GROUP HEAD,Len BushNational RepresentativeNational Union of Public and General Employee (Both of whom are working together to get our plight into mainstream media) ASWELL AS THE CANADIAN ACTION PARTY AND COLIN BROWN OF THE AFRICAN CANADIAN LEGAL CLINIC

The Following Is a copy of Email Response and Information I received From Len Bush and Roche Tasse, Head of the Civil Liberty Monitoring Group, Acting On Our Behalf Outling Yet Another Occurance of Racial Profiling Persecution At this Same Airport and Rehiterating His Recommendation that ACLU Step In To Assist My Mother and I:
Date:
Wed 22 Nov 2006 05:39:02 PM EST
From:
Len Bush [ Add to Address Book Block Address Report as Spam ]
To:
'Jameel Jaffer'
Subject:
Airline checks claim of 'Muslim while flying' discrimination at MINNEAPOLIS airport
Hi Jameel,See article below. Yet another incident in Minneapolis similar to thetreatment received by Aaron James (black man from Winnipeg)who sought ACLU'sassistance a couple of months ago. There seems to have been a few similarincidents happening at that particular airport in recent months. Could itbe due to the fact that air marshalls are forced to meet monthly quotas, orthat this specific airport has introduced a "behaviour pattern" profilingprogram developed by the Israeli security forces? Anyway, would theMinneapolis chapter of ACLU have any statistics or records of how many suchincidents actually have happened at the same airport? Is the incidencehigher there than at other airports? If so,why? Would it warrant a specialintervention from ACLU? Would ACLU reconsider taking on the case of Mr.James?Regards,Roch

Further Email Response From Roche Tasse CITING HIS SUPPORT OF MY MOTHER AND I:
Dear Ms. James,

Just to let you know that I have received your fax detailing your discussions with Len Bush at NUPGE. I know Len and will contact him to harmonize our strategy to get your story in the media.

In the meantime, I would like to receive a copy of your video. Would you be so kind as to mail a copy to the following address:

Roch Tassé
ICLMG
c/o CCIC
1 Nicholas Street (Suite 300)
Ottawa K1R 7B7


Thank you, and best wishes,

Roch
__________________________________________________________________________________________ Roch Tassé Coordinator / Coordonnateur International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group Coalition pour la surveillance internationale des libertés civiles (613) 241-5298







PROFILING ARTICLE REFERED TO THAT HAS SURFACED AND EXPOSES CONTINUING PATTERN OF RACIAL PERSECUTION AT MINNEAPOLIS AIRPORT

Airline checks claim of 'Muslim while flying' discriminationPOSTED: 10:42 p.m. EST, November 21, 2006MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota (CNN) -- US Airways said Tuesday it is investigatingthe removal of six Muslim imams who were passengers on a Monday flightheading to Phoenix, Arizona.The clerics, who had been in Minnesota for a national imams conference, wereguilty of nothing more than "flying while Muslim," according to a nationalMuslim advocacy group.The alert was raised after the men performed their normal evening prayers inthe airport terminal before boarding Flight 300. (Watch how one of the menwas treated at a US Airways desk )A passenger who had seen them pray passed a note expressing concern to aflight attendant, US Airways spokeswoman Andrea Rader told The AssociatedPress.The passenger thought the imams -- who were speaking in Arabic and English-- had made anti-U.S. statements before boarding and "made similarstatements while boarding," said Russ Knocke, a spokesman for the Departmentof Homeland Security.Once on board, Knocke said, the six split up into groups of two and did notsit in their assigned seats.US Airways had the imams removed from the plane, and according to theCouncil on American-Islamic Relations, a Muslim advocacy group, the airlinedenied the clerics access to another flight and did not assist them inobtaining tickets on another carrier."This discrimination should not stand," said Nihad Awad, the council'sexecutive director. "We call on religious communities, civil rightsmovements and other people to stand up and speak up."He said the group was getting more reports of 'flying while Muslim' andracial profiling incidents across the country."We are concerned that crew members, passengers and security personnel mayhave succumbed to fear and prejudice based on stereotyping of Muslims andIslam," Awad said in an earlier press release calling for an investigation.US Airways pledged a thorough probe."We do not tolerate discrimination of any kind and will continue to exhaustour internal investigation until we know the facts of this case and canprovide answer for the employees and customers involved in this incident,"the airline said in a written statement.The clerics were returning from a conference in Minneapolis of the NorthAmerican Imams Federation, Omar Shahin of Phoenix, president of the group,told the AP."They took us off the plane, humiliated us in a very disrespectful way,"Shahin said.Shahin said three members of the group prayed in the terminal before the sixboarded the plane.They entered individually, except for one member who is blind and needed tobe guided, Shahin said. Once on the plane, the six did not sit together, hesaid."We did nothing" on the plane, Shahin said.According to the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the clerics werehandcuffed and questioned for several hours by authorities before beingreleased.The imams denied reports they chanted "Allah" as they were escorted from theflight, the council said in a written statement. (Watch passengers describehow the cops, airplane crew and imams acted )DHS spokesman denies discriminationKnocke of the DHS defended the airline's action. "We do not criticize anyonewho errs on the side of security," he told CNN, but "we have absolutely noissue with any of these individuals."Asked whether any federal agencies discriminated against Muslims in thiscase, Knocke said that was "categorically not true.""This was a difficult spot for the airport police and for the pilot," hesaid. "This is an unfortunate circumstance, and we recognize that these sixindividuals were inconvenienced and delayed about three hours."After the six imams were removed, they and their luggage were re-screenedand the plane was checked out with dogs, Knocke said."Everything checked out. The FBI and Secret Service conducted interviews andeverything checked out fine," he said.Accounts of what transpired on the plane differ.Police were called after the captain and airport security workers asked themen to leave the plane and the men refused, Rader told the AP.Patrick Hogan, spokesman for the Minneapolis-St. Paul Metropolitan AirportsCommission, told the AP the airline asked airport police to remove the sixmen from the flight because some witnesses reported the men were makinganti-American statements involving the Iraq war.Hogan said one of the imams asked to change seats once inside the cabin andanother requested an extender to make his seat belt larger even though hedid not appear to need it and that in general "there was some peculiarbehavior."Shahin told AP no one asked them to leave until police arrived. The groupimmediately complied, he said.Shahin expressed frustration that many Americans know so little about Islam-- despite extensive efforts by him and other Muslim leaders since evenbefore the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001."If up to now they don't know about prayers, this is a real problem," hesaid.Shahin told AP the group spent the night at the home of a local imam inMinneapolis.Shahin told the AP that when he went back to the airport Tuesday morning, hewas told by a ticketing agent his payment for the flight had been refunded.He said the agent told him that neither he nor the other imams couldpurchase tickets from US Airways.An airline spokesman in Arizona told the AP he was unaware such a decisionhad been made and could not comment.The other passengers on the flight, which was carrying 141 passengers andfive crew members, were re-screened for boarding, Rader said.The plane took off about three hours after the men were removed.Copyright 2006 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published,broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to thisreport._http://profilingpersecutionminneapolis.blogspot.com/http://profilingpersecutionminneapolis.blogspot.com/________________________________________________Len BushNational RepresentativeNational Union of Public and General Employees15 Auriga Drive, Nepean, ON, Canada, K2E 1B7(613) 228-9800 / (613) 228-9801 (fax) lbush@nupge.ca / www.nupge.ca

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