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Madinat al-Muslimeen Islamic Message Board
| American students spark 'terror' scare in UK |
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| explorer |
| 03/02/02 at 06:37:20 |
| Has this been reported anywhere else in the local press ??? ------------------------------------------------- Muslim students spark terror scare By Staff Reporter, Birmingham Post Six American teenagers who had flown to Britain to study Islam sparked a terror scare at Birmingham International Airport. The Muslim students, aged between 17 and 18, from New Jersey, arrived for their visit to the Al-Hirah College in the Balsall Heath area of the city on Sunday morning. They were refused entry by suspicious immigration officials and put on the next flight home, but a Continental Airlines pilot then refused to take off with them on board. In the confusion, police boarded the plane and arrested the six students. A spokesman for the Home Office said immigration officials were "satisfied" that the teenagers' intention to study in Birmingham was not genuine. After their arrest the six were locked up at police stations in nearby Solihull and Manchester before finally being deported to America on Sunday night. Yesterday their teacher, Imam Ramee Muhammed, criticised the authorities, claiming that his pupils had been subjected to interrogation about Osama bin Laden. He said: "We were shocked and outraged. As African-Americans we are used to doors being closed to us but, as Muslims, too, we are hit twice. "Most kids who grow up in the ghettos do not leave their neighbourhoods and for this group it was the first time on a plane. "But they were put in jail and questioned all day about Osama bin Laden and about Jihad." Zainab Abdullah, mother of a 16-year-old detainee called Muhammad, the youngest in the group, said she was shocked by the British officials' decision. In a telephone call from the US, Mrs Abdullah claimed the students were interrogated on whether they supported bin Laden or Al-Qaida and what their views were on September 11. A spokesman for Continental Airlines confirmed the pilot had refused to allow the six to return to the US because of their "inappropri-ate behaviour at the gate, while boarding the flight". He did not elaborate on what the "in-appropriate behaviour" was. The airline spokesman added that three teenagers returned to the US from Manchester Airport while the other three went via Birmingham. A Home Office spokesman said immigration officers refused them entry because they were satisfied that their intention to study was not genuine and realistic. http://icbirmingham.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0100localnews/page.cfm?objectid=11654188&method=full |
| 03/02/02 at 06:38:33 |
| explorer |
| Re: American students spark 'terror' scare in UK |
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| Saffiyah |
| 03/02/02 at 20:21:16 |
| [slm] I did read about this story on the teletext and it was on the front page of some newspaper (sorry can't remember which one)..so yes it was reported but as with many stories, they are old news the next day. Stories like these make me so frustrated sometimes :( [wlm] |
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