NEWARK, New Jersey: For years, Egyptian native Mohamed Younes protested the questioning and detention of Muslim and Arab-American air travelers when they were stopped at airports on security grounds. Now, it has happened to him. An elder in Paterson’s Muslim community – and a close friend of top FBI officials in New Jersey – Younes says the very thing he has been railing against when it happened to others embarrassed and humiliated him during a business trip last weekend to Thailand and the United Arab Emirates.
“I always said this was a problem, but you can’t know the depths of it until you feel it yourself, said Younes, who is president of the Totowa-based American Muslim Union and one of the most respected figures in the northern New Jersey Muslim community.
“It is a problem of people named Mohamed and Ahmed and any Arabic name, he said. “It is a problem of people wearing different clothes. It is a problem of people with different colors or looks. It is a clear discrimination against the Muslim community and it is increasing at a fast rate.
Younes, 65, who owns a fabric dyeing company in Paterson, was trying to fly home from Thailand on a business trip last Sunday when a representative of Emirates Airlines said he would not be permitted to board. He asked why, and said he was informed,”It was an order from the American Embassy, and they have no control over it in Thailand.
He was detained at the airport for two hours, and finally allowed to board a plane to Dubai, where he had been scheduled to change planes for the final leg of his trip back to Newark. The same thing happened in Dubai, with airport officials telling him he could not board the plane for security reasons, he said.
Incensed,Younes called John Paige, a supervisory special agent in the FBI’s West Paterson office and a good friend,who offered to get on the phone with officials at the airport on his behalf.” But I said no; it wasn’t his territory, and there was really nothing he could do, Younes said. “Who would believe I really had the FBI on the phone?
After haggling with airport officials for another two hours, Younes was finally allowed aboard the plane, without an explanation for the change of heart.
A spokeswoman for the airline in New York had no immediate comment, and an e-mail to the company’s headquarters in Dubai was not immediately answered.
Paige said he does not know exactly why Younes was flagged at both facilities, but speculated it was because his name either matched or was very close to a name on an anti-terrorism watch list. He noted that Mohamed Younes is a fairly common name in the Muslim world.
“Let’s just assume for argument’s sake that there was something on a Mohamed Younes,but he could be 20 years younger or two inches shorter, Paige said.
“That’s something that would have to be addressed.
Younes, an Egyptian native, is a U.S. citizen who has lived in the United States for 35 years. He has made the trip to Thailand and back four times previously without incident.
“He has two daughters who are medical doctors, he owns a successful business here, and is well known throughout the community, Paige said. “But sadly, in today’s atmosphere, if someone says John Paige is going to do something evil, (authorities) really have to investigate. I get stopped and searched myself at airports all the time,even though I have credentials and documents you might think would prevent that. But that doesn’t make him feel any better.
Paige said Younes is not wanted by law enforcement nor is he suspected of any crime. He said it would be helpful for law enforcement to be able to either store or quickly transmit identification information about travelers that could be easily retrieved at airports so that a gate attendant could readily see that the 65- year-old passenger holding a ticket is not the person with the same name who is potentially wanted by authorities.
“I think technology will solve this for us some day, but we’re not there yet, Paige said. AP
