Associated Press
Last Updated: Aug. 2, 2002 at 4:08:45 p.m.
NEWARK, N.J. - Four New Jersey men are suing American Airlines, claiming they were
wrongly removed from an airplane in March and strip-searched because of their Arabic
names.
The men, who filed a lawsuit on Friday, say they were headed home from a Florida
vacation when airline officials asked them to get off the plane prior to takeoff.
Three employees then searched them in full view of other passengers for 30 minutes, the
lawsuit alleges, forcing them to lift up their shirts and lower their pants. The men said the
captain eventually apologized and allowed them to get back on the plane.
The men - Eyhab Matari, 25, of Prospect Park, Ehab Abdelaziz, 22, of Paterson, Osama
Zeidan, 20, of Clifton, and Waesam Hamdan, 22, of Paterson - are all U.S. citizens of
Palestinian descent. They seek unspecified damages in the lawsuit filed in U.S. District
Court in Newark.
The four believe their names improperly aroused suspicion, because their appearance
and clothing - shorts, T-shirts and baseball caps - did not look particularly Mideastern,
said their lawyer, Hamdi Rifai.
``They believe it is because their names appeared Arabic on the manifest, because no
one complained about them,'' Rifai said Friday.
The lawsuit charges they were humiliated, and their civil rights violated.
``I don't feel American now,'' Hamdan, who was born in the United States, said Thursday
during a news conference at a Teaneck mosque. ``I feel second class.''
A spokesman for the Fort Worth, Texas-based airline declined to comment on the suit,
saying the company would not discuss pending litigation.
A slew of lawsuits have been filed against in recent months accusing various airlines of
illegally removing passengers who looked Middle Eastern. The American Civil Liberties
Union, which has filed a handful of lawsuits on behalf of passengers, has blamed poor
airline policies drawn up to respond to the threat of terrorism since Sept. 11.
The latest lawsuit marks the second time American Airlines has been accused of
discrimination since last year's terrorist attacks. A Secret Service agent assigned to
protect President Bush was prevented from reboarding a flight to the president's ranch in
December.
The man, an Arab-American, said he felt he was mistreated because of his ethnicity.
