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Wednesday 23 Dec 2015 - 11:53 Makkah mean time-12-3-1437
Muslim family 'denied boarding' on flight to US from UK. Image from Getty
London, (IINA) - A British Muslim family heading for Disneyland was barred from boarding a flight to Los Angeles by US authorities at London’s Gatwick airport amid concerns of an American overreaction to the perceived terrorist threat, The Guardian reported.
The family planned to visit cousins in southern California and go to Disneyland and Universal Studios, but they were turned away by US officials while at the departure lounge.
Officials of the US Department of Homeland Security provided no explanation for why the country refused to allow the family of 11 to board the plane even though they had been granted travel authorization online ahead of their planned 15 December flight.
The British Labour MP Stella Creasy, who believes a lack of information from US authorities is fuelling resentment within British Muslim communities, has raised the case of the family from London who were turned back at the airport.
A Downing Street spokeswoman said British Prime Minister David Cameron would consider the issues raised in Creasy’s letter and respond in due course. The prime minister has already described Trump’s remarks as “stupid, divisive and wrong”.
Creasy, having “hit a brick wall” in her own attempts to get answers from the American embassy, has asked the prime minister to press US officials for an explanation for the Mahmood family’s exclusion.
She has also asked him to clarify whether the UK monitors the numbers and ethnic or religious background of those who are blocked from travelling, to “help reassure all UK citizens that no discrimination on the grounds of faith is happening at UK airports”.
US Homeland Security officials did not respond to a request for comment on why the family had been stopped from entering the country.
“Online and offline discussions reverberate with the growing fear UK Muslims are being ‘trumped’ – that widespread condemnation of Donald Trump’s call for no Muslim to be allowed into America contrasts with what is going on in practice,” Creasy writes in an article for the Guardian. She said she was in contact with at least one other constituent who had had a similar experience.
Mohammad Tariq Mahmood was one of the family members turned away from the flight. He was travelling with his brother and nine of their children. Mahmood told the Guardian that no officials had told them why their entry was barred, but he thinks the reason is “obvious”.
“It’s because of the attacks on America – they think every Muslim poses a threat,” Mahmood said.
He said the children had been counting down the days to the trip for months, and were devastated not to be able to visit their cousins as planned.
He said that the airline told them that they would not be refunded the $13,340 cost of their flights. They were also forced to return everything they bought at the airport’s duty-free shops before being escorted from the airport.
“I have never been more embarrassed in my life. I work here, I have a business here. But we were alienated,” Mahmood said.
SM/IINA
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