Three Muslim siblings marched off easyJet plane at Stansted and interrogated after passenger falsely claimed they sent WhatsApp messages supporting ISIS
Another passenger falsely claimed British sisters in headscarves were reading religious script in Arabic
THREE siblings were marched off an easyJet plane and quizzed by armed police on the tarmac at Stansted airport after passengers accused them of being ISIS supporters.
Officers quizzed sisters Maryam, 19, and Sakina Dharas, 24, and their brother Ali, 21, over false claims they were reading ISIS propaganda on their phones.
They had boarded the flight to Naples on the way to see the ruins in Pompeii when a stewardess asked them to accompany her off the aircraft but refused to say why.
At the bottom of the steps they saw armed cops - whose first question to the British siblings was: “Do you speak English?”
In full view of the passengers on the plane, the trio from North West London were grilled for an hour by plain clothes cops they believed were from Special Branch.
The officers demanded to see their phones and quizzed them on whether they had been reading the Koran or any Arabic material.
The siblings, who are of Indian ethnic origin, cannot speak or read Arabic. They were all born and raised in London, as was their mother.
Student Maryam, who will begin an English degree at King’s College London next month, told the Guardian: “I was shocked, my sister was close to tears.
“The first thing the policeman asks us is if we speak English, which I personally find quite patronising. Just because we look ethnic. I don’t speak any other language but English.
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“We’re told a couple had reported us having been reading ISIS materials. They said the pair of us, meaning me and my sister, had been reading ISIS material
"My sister and I wear headscarves. We thought, there’s clearly profiling going on here.
“We were just in shock. What is going on? None of us have been doing that. We’re absolutely flummoxed.
“We were asked, ‘have you had any Arabic on your phone? Have you been reading the Koran?’ We don’t even speak Arabic, we don’t know Arabic, we’re not even Arabs.”
The passengers who complained had incorrectly claimed that the women had a reference to the phrase "praise be to God" on one of their phones.
Maryam had in fact been using her phone on the plane to send WhatsApp messages to her father, a pharmacist born in Uganda, about the Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.
Officers also asked to see Maryam’s Twitter posts.
She said: “There was no evidence here. We were being treated like criminals
"The couple had lied and got away with it. It was offensive and hurtful.
"They tarnished our names in front of everyone on the flight, it was really humiliating.”
Eventually the three were allowed back on the flight - making a humiliating walk past other passengers who saw them being quizzed.
But first an officer warned Sakina they would do further background checks on the family and if they found anything "we will be waiting" when they landed.
Maryam said: “This was bizarre because, if we’re not a threat and we’re allowed on the plane, we’ve all agreed this has been a lie, then what’s the need?.
“They said ‘if we find anything, we’ll be waiting for you when your plane lands’. What kind of threat was that to make?”
Sakina, a clinical pharmacist at University College London, said: “We would only have been allowed back on the plane if there wasn’t a shred of doubt on their part, so someone must be the liar here.
"In which case, why were those passengers not removed for wasting police time, lying, making false allegations and racial profiling?”
Essex Police said of the August 18 incident: “Essex police were contacted with reports of concern regarding the behaviour of three people who were looking at their mobile phones.
“Officers at the airport spoke to them and examined their phones with their consent. They were quickly able to establish that no offences had been committed and the women boarded their flight.
"We are satisfied the call was of good intent.”
The airline said: “EasyJet can confirm that, following concerns raised by a passenger during the boarding, a member of ground staff requested the assistance of the police, who took the decision to talk to three passengers at the bottom of the aircraft steps, before departure.
“The police then confirmed to the captain that the passengers were cleared to complete their journey and they reboarded the aircraft and the flight departed to Naples.
“The safety and security of its passengers and crew is our highest priority, which means that if a security concern is raised, we will always investigate it as a precautionary measure.
"We would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused to the passengers.”
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