Armed
police removed a British man from an easyJet plane after a passenger saw
a WhatsApp message on his phone about 'prayer' and feared he was a
terrorist.
Devout
Christian Laolu Opebiyi, 40, from London, was ordered off the flight at
Luton Airport and asked if he was converting to Islam as the 6.45am
flight to Amsterdam took off without him.
A
fellow passenger had been spying on his phone from over his shoulder
and may have misread the title of the group 'Isi men' as 'Isis men', he
says.
His
accuser then asked him: 'What do you mean by "prayer?"' before walking
towards the cockpit and asking to get off. In the minutes that followed
another six passengers also left the plane.
Two armed police officers then arrived and told Mr Opebiyi to pick up his belongings and get off the plane too.
They
then repeatedly questioned him about his faith, which church he
attended in London and whether he was considering converting to Islam.
He told reporters
'Even if I was a Muslim, it was pretty unfair the way I was treated. I
don't think anyone, irrespective of their religion should be treated in
such a way.
'If
we keep on giving into this kind of bigotry and irrational fear, I dare
say that the terrorists will have achieved their aim.'
He explained
to police the WhatsApp group was called 'ISI' because it is short for
'iron sharpens iron' - a Bible passage about prayer which says: 'As iron
sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another'.
The
police then released him but he was further shamed because as he
returned to the easyJet desk to get to Holland the seven passengers
refused to travel with him.
No comments:
Post a Comment