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ASSOCIATED PRESS
Khairuldeen Makhzoomi works in his office in Berkeley, Calif., today. Makhzoomi, who came to the U.S. as an Iraqi refugee, says he was unfairly removed from a flight at Los Angeles International Airport earlier this month because a fellow passenger was alarmed by an innocent conversation he was having in Arabic.
LOS ANGELES » A college student and Iraqi refugee yanked from a Southwest Airlines flight after mentioning a terrorist group’s name during a phone conversation in Arabic says he was degraded and humiliated and wants a public apology.
Khairuldeen Makhzoomi, who arrived in the U.S. in 2010 as an Iraqi refugee, was removed from the April 9 flight from Los Angeles to Oakland, California, after the airline said another Arabic-speaking passenger reported hearing him say something that alarmed her.
The airline said in a statement that it regretted what occurred, but under federal regulations it had no alternative but to remove Makhzoomi.
“To be honest with you, I really was intimidated,” Makhzoomi told The Associated Press today. “It was an overwhelming process. They made me feel as if I were guilty.”
He was released after being interrogated by Los Angeles International Airport police and FBI agents who, according to Makhzoomi, asked him about his thoughts on martyrdom. He said he angrily told them he had no interest in such matters, and they eventually believed him.
“The statement he made was not illegal, there was nothing that involved threats or anything like that, so he was released,” airport police Officer Rob Pendregon said.
The 26-year-old University of California, Berkeley, senior said his troubles began as he was excitedly telling his uncle in Baghdad that he was on his way home after attending a speech by United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.
He said most of the conversation was mundane, covering subjects like who was there and what the food was like, but at one point he noted someone posed a question about the Islamic State group.
When he noticed a woman in the next row staring at him he told his uncle he’d call back later, adding he ended the conversation with the phrase “inshallah,” meaning “God willing.”
Two minutes later, he said, a Southwest employee approached and told him he’d have to leave the plane.
In the terminal he said the man, accompanied by three police officers, told him he should have known better than to speak in Arabic on an airplane, given how it might rattle people these days.
“I said, ‘I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to do that,’ ” he said he replied.
The FBI was called, he said, after the employee blamed him for delaying the flight and he responded, “No, I think this is what Islamophobia got this country into.”
After being released he was told he couldn’t return home on a Southwest flight and his ticket was refunded.
“We would like the opportunity to speak with Mr. Makhzoomi further about his experience and have reached out to him several times,” the airline said in a statement.
Makhzoomi said he did speak briefly with an airline representative Monday, but he told the woman the only thing he was interested in hearing was a public apology. Southwest did not respond to an email asking if that was a possibility.
Meanwhile, Makhzoomi said he’s been contacted by people who have offered to put him in touch with top-notch lawyers if he wants to sue. Still, he said, all he really wants is the apology.
“I hope I can get that apology because we need to solve this problem,” he said. “But we cannot solve any problem without mentioning what is the problem and that is that Islamophobia is real and it’s been used by many people and it’s time to say enough is enough.”
Better safe than sorry.
This should all have been resolved by a simple explanation in English. From witnessing passengers detained for various reasons, I’ve noted that neither TSA screeners nor airline employees respond well to critical remarks or anything that remotely could be construed as contempt. When making your flight is in jeopardy, it’s best to stick to the bare facts. Appropriate avenues exist for reporting suspected mistreatment or discrimination.
agree
The funniest (if your mind works that way) remark I overheard that got a passenger a second look was when a tall woman in a leopard-pattern outfit declared to an airport screener, “Yeah, I got a .357 Magnum on me – so what about it?” She eventually made her flight, but it was a near thing.
Given the circumstances of this situation, it doesn’t sound like Southwest or anyone else owes him an apology. The guy apparently lacks any common sense.
Given the titles of the four books placed prominently in the foreground of his photo, you must assume Makhzoomi is well versed on the causes of Islamophobia. Why he was then unable to quickly defuse the situation to everyone’s satisfaction is thus a little puzzling. While he might have felt put on the spot by the airport police and the FBI asking him for his views on martyrdom, he should have anticipated the question and given an honest answer, or at the very least, an answer that made it clear he disapproves of the slaying of innocent and helpless people. If he indeed “angrily told them he had no interest in such matters,” then I’m almost certain everyone in the room believed he was being disingenuous. They were probably thinking something along the lines of, “You’re obviously a pretty smart fella and you must have been keeping up with current events and the state of the world as it is, so you expect us to believe you have no interest in such matters? Give us a break!” I’m no mind reader, and there’s every chance I’m completely mistaken, but it’s my guess Makhzoomi at some point gave in to an urge to demonstrate some sort of philosophical superiority to the police, FBI and airline employees. Maybe it occurred at the moment he realized he was going to miss his flight anyway.
An apology from the airline is not warranted nor should one be given.