Woman Says She Was Removed From Newark Airport Because She Is Muslim

By TOM DAVIS (Patch Staff)

A 30-year-old woman says she was removed from her flight this week at Newark Liberty International Airport because she is Muslim, according to reports.

Kameelah Rasheed passed through security and customs before boarding a Lufthansa flight to Instabul, but an FBI agent ordered her off the plane after she boarded, according to aljazeera.com.

Rasheed, an American citizen who is Mulsim, said she was wearing a hijab on her head while also wearing running pants, a T-shirt and a pair of sneakers, according to nj.com.

She described the customs official’s questioning of her as “circular and nonsensical,” and said she was eventually released and decided to return home to Brooklyn instead of trying to catch a later flight.

Last week, passengers were removed from planes in Baltimore and Chicago because of supposed suspicious activity. The passengers appeared to be of Middle Eastern descent and spoke Arabic.

Rasheed is one of a number of Muslims in the U.S. who say they have been on the receiving end of profiling since the attacks in Paris on Nov. 13, which were claimed by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, or ISIS, according to the aljazeera report.

Rasheed said she was the only passenger of about 200 who was asked to leave the flight on Tuesday and “I was the only visibly Muslim person,” said the New York resident in the report.

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