☪ Muslims in the news ☪

[Legion]

Muslims complain about being subjected to airport security measures that all passengers face because of Muslims

“This is systematic racism,” Yasmine Elfarra, recalls telling the TSA agents who she said singled her out along with her sisters and 11 other women who were wearing hijabs, forcing them to miss a flight to Chicago. “You lumped us in the group because we look like one another.”

“They closed off a line to enter through security checks just for us and gated us in,” Elfarra said. “It looked like we were animals herded through the group. Everyone was angry.”

She grew upset as she described what happened. She said she’s frequently been stopped at airports for cursory secondary security checks, but that what happened felt to her like blatant bias.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR, of New Jersey, which is representing the women, said the agents’ actions were illegal under federal anti-discrimination laws. The letter of complaint was filed with the TSA and the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees it, asking for $100,000 in damages for each of the women, an official apology and mandatory diversity training for all TSA agents working at Newark Airport.

TSA spokeswoman Lisa Farbstein said the agency's policies and practices comply with civil rights laws and "must not discriminate against travelers on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, relation, age, disability, genetic information, sexual orientation and parental status."

BTW, ladies, "Muslim" isn't a race.

REMEMBER WHY PASSENGER SCREENING WAS MADE MANDATORY AFTER THIS HAPPENED?

https://www.northjersey.com/story/news/new-jersey/2018/06/08/nj-women-hijab-allege-anti-muslim-bias-newark-airport-ewr/665712002/

[Legion]

Grandmaster and former world junior girls' champion Soumya Swaminathan has refused to participate in the Asian Team Chess Championship in Iran because of the compulsory-headscarf rule.

She took to her Facebook page to say, "I find the Iranian law of compulsory Headscarf to be in direct violation of my basic Human Rights including my right to freedom of expression, and right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion. It seems that under the present circumstances, the only way for me to protect my rights is not to go to Iran."



https://sports.ndtv.com/othersports/indian-chess-star-soumya-swaminathan-refuses-to-wear-headscarf-withdraws-from-iran-event-1866599?pfrom=home-topscroll

[Legion]

German prosecutors said Thursday they’ve thwarted an Islamic extremist plot to launch an attack with the deadly toxin ricin.

They said a 29-year-old Tunisian, identified only as Sief Allah H., who was arrested Wednesday, started procuring material online, including seeds needed for the creation of ricin, in mid-May.

The suspect succeeded in creating the toxin this month and investigators found it in a search of his Cologne apartment, federal prosecutors in Karlsruhe said in a written statement.

“He procured 1,000 castor bean seeds online as well as an electronic coffee grinder,” they said. The shell of the castor bean plant seed is highly poisonous and can be used to create ricin.

The authorities are still investigating exactly how the suspect planned to use the toxin, but said he was working on a “biological weapon” attack in Germany.

Prosecutors said they currently have no evidence of a connection with any extremist organization.

They didn’t immediately comment on a Bild newspaper report that American intelligence tipped off German investigators.

Bild also reported that the suspect bought bomb-making material and chemicals used in the production of the ricin.

The daily newspaper wrote that the suspect lived in the Chorweiler neighborhood of Cologne with his wife and four children.

He supposedly used instructions for the making of a ricin bomb that had been posted online by the Islamic State extremist group.


https://nypost.com/2018/06/14/tunisian-man-accused-of-plotting-ricin-attack-in-germany/

[Legion]

A Muslim professor at the publicly-funded state University of Connecticut received numerous complaints from students by requiring them to remove their shoes and say "Bismillah" ("in the name of Allah") before entering his office.

A professor posted signs on the door to his office directing students to “REMOVE SHOES BEFORE ENTERING” and “KNOCK FIRST, THEN REQUEST ENTRY Say: Bismillah'."

“UConn promptly resolved the issue in a manner that respects the rights of all involved, and affirms the University’s values of civility and inclusivity,” a UConn spokesperson said.

“Regarding this instance, the sign that had directed guests to precede their conversations with a specific Arabic phrase was immediately removed at the University’s direction,” the spokesperson stated.

“That particular faculty member has retired in the time since,” the spokesperson added.

https://www.campusreform.org/?ID=11025