Please Read this: STRIP SEARCH OF MUSLIM WOMAN AT O'HARE AIRPORT

seyedjavad

From: "haque"

Reply-To: "haque"

To:

Subject: ji-net: STRIP SEARCH OF MUSLIM WOMAN AT O'HARE AIRPORT

Date: Thu, 17 Jan 2002 17:32:51 +0500

With Allah's Name, the Rehman, the Raheem

Assalamo Alaikum.

ACLU CHALLENGES STRIP SEARCH OF MUSLIM WOMAN AT O'HARE AIRPORT

CHICAGO, Jan. 16 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The following was released today by the

ACLU of Illinois:

An Illinois National Guardsman and three private security personnel at

O'Hare International Airport engaged in an unnecessary, unjustified,

illegal and degrading search of a 22-year-old United States citizen of

Pakistani descent last November, according to a lawsuit filed today in

federal district court in Chicago.

In the complaint, lawyers for the American Civil Liberties Union of

Illinois assert that Samar Kaukab was pulled out of a group of airline

passengers and subjected to repeated and increasingly invasive searches

based on her ethnicity and her religion. Ms. Kaukab's religion was evident

because she was wearing a traditional head covering for Muslim women, known

as a "hijab." The lawsuit names Major General David Harris, Adjutant

General for the Illinois National Guard, and Argenbright Security, Inc., as

defendants for their personnel's role in the outrage directed toward Ms.

Kaukab.

The lawsuit asserts that the intrusive search of Ms. Kaukab violated the

United States Constitution's guarantees of freedom of religion, freedom

from unlawful ethnic and religious discrimination and protections against

unreasonable search and seizure. The complaint filed today asks the federal

district court to issue an injunction preventing any future unreasonable

searches or searches based upon ethnic and religious discrimination, in

addition to monetary damages.

"Ms. Kaukab was identified and subjected to a humiliating search not

because she posed any security threat, but only because her wearing of a

hijab identified her as a Muslim," said Lorie Chaiten, a lawyer for the

ACLU of Illinois, in announcing the lawsuit. "Security personnel surrounded

her, detained her and subjected her to an embarrassing and degrading search

simply based on her ethnicity and religion."

Lawyers for the ACLU of Illinois today cited the harassment of Ms. Kaukab

as one of the numerous documented instances across the nation in which

Muslims and persons of Middle Eastern descent have been the target of

insidious discrimination. The ACLU noted that these acts of discrimination

have taken place predominantly in the travel industry, especially for

passengers on commercial airlines.

"Many of our nation's highest public officer holders have publicly decried

any acts of discrimination or violence being directed at Muslims and

persons of Middle Eastern descent," said Harvey Grossman, legal director of

the ACLU of Illinois. "This case is symptomatic, however, of the fact that

these same public officials have not provided appropriate training and

oversight to ensure that no person is singled out for abuse and

discrimination based upon their ethnicity and religion."

Ms. Kaukab, a citizen of the United States and resident of Columbus, Ohio,

was traveling home on November 7, 2001, after attending a conference in

Chicago hosted by Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA). Ms. Kaukab and

a number of attendees from the VISTA conference traveled to O'Hare, checked

their luggage and proceeded to the security checkpoint in Terminal 1 of the

airport.

Ms. Kaukab passed through the metal detector without setting off the

machine. A member of the Illinois National Guard present at the security

station then approached an employee of Argenbright Security and insisted

that Ms. Kaukab be searched further despite the fact that there was no

indication that she was carrying any banned materials on her person or in

her carry-on bags. Following the instruction from the National Guardsman, a

security employee repeatedly passed a handheld metal detector over Ms.

Kaukab's body, including placing the metal detector into Ms. Kaukab's

boots. In addition, the security employee patted Ms. Kaukab's upper body,

pulled at the straps and hook on her bra.

As a crowd of persons gathered, some delayed by the search of Ms. Kaukab

and others simply watching the event, a security guard passed the handheld

metal detector slowly over and around Ms. Kaukab's head. Although the

security device was not "set off" on any occasion when passed over and

around Ms. Kaukab's head, a security employee, again based upon instruction

from the National Guardsman, demanded that Ms. Kaukab remove her hijab. Ms.

Kaukab responded by telling the security personnel that she could not

remove the hijab in public, but would be willing to do so in a private

location and only in the company of women. She made it clear that this was

not an attempt to be uncooperative, but was necessary as part of her

religious beliefs. After a further conversation with the National

Guardsman, the security employee repeated the demand that the hijab be

removed in public, ignoring Ms. Kaukab's pleas.

"The security personnel and the National Guardsman were completely

insensitive to Ms. Kaukab's religious beliefs. Moreover, there was no valid

security concern to justify her removing her hijab," added the ACLU's

Chaiten. "The search continued to escalate even though Ms. Kaukab passed

through the metal detector without incident, and further searches produced

no indication of anything being hidden beneath her hijab. The escalating

nature of the search was completely unjustified."

After further discussions between the security personnel and the National

Guardsman, Ms. Kaukab was escorted to a small office area adjacent to the

security checkpoint. Despite repeated objections from Ms. Kaukab, the male

employee insisted on entering the small room with her and conducting the

search. After Ms. Kaukab again asserted her religious beliefs and

requested that a woman conduct any search involving the removal of her

hijab, the male security employee finally acceded to her request and she

entered the private area with two female employees.

Once the hijab had been removed, one of the security personnel ran her

fingers through Ms. Kaukab's hair and over her scalp. The security employee

then felt around her neck and collarbone, opened her sweater and felt

around her chest and breasts and felt up and down her legs on the outside

of her pants. The security employee then unbuttoned and unzipped Ms.

Kaukab's pants, opened her pants and patted down her lower abdomen and

between her legs over her underwear.

At no time did security personnel discover any contraband, nor did the

initial searches with the metal detectors give any indication that

contraband might be present, suggesting no reason for the escalation of the

search.

Abruptly, the security personnel ended the search and released Ms. Kaukab,

who felt frightened and humiliated by the entire event.

"During the entire experience, I was scared not only by what was happening,

but also by what might happen next," said Ms. Kaukab at a news conference

today announcing the lawsuit. "I kept wondering what else might happen to

me - would I be detained or subjected to a body cavity search."

"The entire experience was degrading. I felt as though the security

personnel had singled me out because I didn't belong, wasn't trusted and

wouldn't be welcomed in my own country. Nothing like this ever happened to

me before," added Ms. Kaukab. "When it was over, I went to the restroom to

gather my emotions and telephoned my mother. I was just so humiliated."

Lawyers for the ACLU of Illinois noted that the search of Ms. Kaukab fits

an emerging pattern in which security personnel at airports target Muslims

and persons of Middle Eastern descent. Recent media reports indicate that

many Muslims have been subjected to unnecessary harassment and searches

because of their ethnicity or religious affiliation. One such incident

involves security personnel surrounding a 17-year-old Muslim high school

student from Virginia, and intimidating her into removing her hijab in public.

Charles Peters, Laura Weinberg and Carolyn Morehouse of the Chicago law

firm Schiff, Hardin & Waite and Kamran Memon, a Chicago attorney in private

practice, are assisting lawyers from the ACLU of Illinois in this case.

Contact: Edwin C. Yohnka of ACLU of Illinois, 312-201-9740 ext. 305 or

pager: 312-851-2832

=================================================

Disclaimer: Views expressed on ji-net do not

necessarily represent those of Jamaat-e-Islami or

the list maintainers.

=================================================

To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:

ji-net-unsubscribe@egroups.com

Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/