Conflicting Accounts
Shahin denied allegation of suspicious behavior, and said everyone in the group had round-trip tickets and that he has the documentation to prove it, that he asked for a seatbelt extension because he weighs 290 pounds (130 kg), and that the group conducted their sunset-time prayers in a quiet manner.
The police report shows the imams sitting in seats 1B, 9C, 9D, 21B, 25D, and 25E. Regarding the claim that the imams did not sit in their assigned seats, Shahin said that only one imam, Sadeddin, switched seats. Sadeddin, who is blind and claimed to need assistance, convinced a coach passenger to exchange seats so that he could sit next to Sulaiman in Row 9. Explaining his seat in first class, Shahin said that he is a frequent flyer and had received an Elite Member upgrade to first class.
Conflicting accounts about the use of handcuffs put that aspect of the controversy into question. On November 21, 2006, Shahin told the Associated Press, "Six scholars in handcuffs. It's terrible." Amy Goodman reports a similar statement made on November 29. However, on December 1 The Washington Times stated: "Mr. Shahin says they were not led off the plane in handcuffs, as reported, nor were they kept in handcuffs during their five-hour detention, and they were not harassed by dogs." However, a Washington Times editorial on December 2 claimed that Shahin had stated that the imams were already handcuffed when they were taken off the plane. To add to the confusion, a passenger told a group of news reporters a few hours later that "apparently they were all in handcuffs by the end" of their time on the airplane, though it appears that she did not observe this directly.
The Washington Times reported that, according to Shahin, the US Airways refused to sell the imams a plane ticket, despite the intervention of an FBI agent who tried to persuade the airline in favor of the imams. FBI spokesman Paul McCabe disputes that an agent talked to US Airways on behalf of the imams.
Read more about this topic: Flying Imams Incident
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