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Article

7 May 2011

Author:
Associated Press

Muslim leaders taken off US flight, say pilot didn't want to fly with them

Two Muslim religious leaders say they were asked to leave a commercial airliner in Memphis and were told it was because the pilot refused to fly with them aboard. Masudur Rahman, who is also an adjunct instructor of Arabic at the University of Memphis, said by phone from the terminal at Memphis International Airport that he and another imam had already been allowed to board their Delta Connection flight to Charlotte, North Carolina before they were asked to get off the plane...A Delta Air Lines spokeswoman said the flight was operated by Atlantic Southeast Airlines, which is also based in Atlanta...[T]he imams were asked to go back to the boarding gate where Rahman said they were told the pilot was refusing to accept them because some other passengers could be uncomfortable...He said a Delta manager apologised for the pilot's actions...