Fired Muslim pilot: Airline thought I'd copy 9/11 hijackers

Daily Mail quotes pilot who worked for well-known British carrier as saying he was fired because of his race and religion

Ynet|Published: 01.29.12 , 21:33

A Heathrow-based Muslim airline pilot told an employment tribunal he was fired because his bosses feared he might copy the September 11 attacks, the Daily Mail reported Sunday.

According to the British newspaper's report, the pilot worked for a well-known British carrier but was judged a security risk after he was arrested over an alleged terror plot.

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The airline said he was "in a position to divert or sabotage an aircraft."

The pilot, who is British, was quoted by the Daily Mail as saying, "I felt they believed I was going to fly planes into buildings.

"I believe the basis they had for that was my race and religion, because of the actions of other people of a similar race and religion," he reportedly told the employment tribunal.

The newspaper said the pilot vehemently denies the airline’s claim that he was unfit to fly because of his ties to two alleged extremists suspected of "planning to use an aircraft as part of a hostile or terrorist act."

According to the report, both men were arrested under the British Terrorism Act, but charges against one of them were later dropped while the other was cleared by a jury.

The pilot and his brother – an active member of the Islamist extremist group Hizb ut-Tahrir – were also arrested but never charged, the Daily Mail reported.