{"id":1069,"date":"2007-08-21T10:57:10","date_gmt":"2007-08-21T10:57:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/breaking-news\/seven-year-old-muslim-boy-stopped-in-us-three-times-on-suspicion-of-being-a-terrorist\/1069\/"},"modified":"2007-08-21T10:57:10","modified_gmt":"2007-08-21T10:57:10","slug":"seven-year-old-muslim-boy-stopped-in-us-three-times-on-suspicion-of-being-a-terrorist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/latest-news\/seven-year-old-muslim-boy-stopped-in-us-three-times-on-suspicion-of-being-a-terrorist\/","title":{"rendered":"Seven-year-old Muslim boy stopped in US three times on suspicion of being a terrorist"},"content":{"rendered":"

By JAYA NARAIN<\/a><\/p>\n

For seven-year-old Javaid Iqbal, the holiday to Florida was a dream trip to reward him for doing well at school.<\/p>\n

But he was left in tears after he was stopped repeatedly at airports on suspicion of being a terrorist.<\/p>\n

The security alerts were triggered because Javaid shares his name with a Pakistani man deported from the US, prompting staff at three airports to question his family about his identity.<\/p>\n

The family even missed their flight home from the U.S. after officials cancelled their tickets in the confusion. And Javaid’s passport now contains a sticker saying he has undergone highlevel security checks.<\/p>\n

Scroll down for more<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"JavidSeven-year-old Javid Iqbal’s passport now contains a sticker saying he has undergone high-level security checks<\/p>\n

The ordeal began in Manchester when Naushaba Nadeem, a doctor, and her children Sana and Fareeha, both nine, Javaid and five-year-old Iftikhar, tried to board a flight to Orlando.<\/p>\n

Dr Nadeem, 35, said: “When we arrived at the front counter to check in at Manchester Airport, staff said there was a security block on Javaid’s name.<\/p>\n

“I understand and agree security checks are important but he is only seven and a half years old.<\/p>\n

“We had to stand at the desk for three hours while they checked everything out. Eventually, everything was fine and we were given our boarding passes.”<\/p>\n

The family enjoyed their eightday holiday earlier this month, taking in Disney World and other attractions before returning to the UK on a route that began with an internal flight from Orlando to Philadelphia.<\/p>\n

Dr Nadeem said: “It happened again at Orlando Airport and then Javaid’s name was blocked again at Philadelphia Airport.<\/p>\n

Scroll down for more<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"JavidJavid’s ordeal began when he and his mother Naushaba Nadeem, tried to board a flight to Orlando, Florida via Philadelphia<\/p>\n

“This time they had cancelled our tickets by the time they gave Javaid security clearance. I was all on my own, I don’t know anyone in Philadelphia.”<\/p>\n

Javaid said: “All this was about my name. They said that it had a block on it. We felt scared and didn’t know what was going on.”<\/p>\n

His father Nadeem Iqbal, 48, a consultant anaesthetist, said: “My son is psychologically traumatised by this experience and said he doesn’t want to fly to America again.<\/p>\n

“The problem seems to be isolated to the US because this did not happen when we visited Tenerife. We don’t want to have to experience anything like this again.”<\/p>\n

Javaid’s parents, who moved to Blackburn from Saudi Arabia in 2002, are now considering changing their son’s name.<\/p>\n

Dr Nadeem said: “The system should cross reference the name, then a date of birth or some other information.”<\/p>\n

The name Javaid Iqbal was blocked and flagged up as a security alert on each airport’s computer system set up by Homeland Security, a US organisation.<\/p>\n

A 39-year-old Pakistani man of that name was arrested in New York two months after the terror attack on the World Trade Centre in 2001.<\/p>\n

He was never charged with any terrorism offences, although he was convicted of fraud for having false papers and deported.<\/p>\n

He is seeking compensation from the U.S. government, claiming to have been beaten up by guards during more than a year in detention.<\/p>\n

Security sources say that as Iqbal was deported, any attempt to enter the US by someone with a similar name would trigger an alert.<\/p>\n

Professor Eric Grove, director of the centre for international security and war studies at Salford University, said: “There are names on file which are checked and there are certain names in combination or singly which put people under scrutiny.<\/p>\n

‘Intelligence-based analysis has been used to compile the list but it is unlikely a sevenyear- old child is a suicide bomber. I think there must be a right balance to counter terrorism without alienating people.”<\/p>\n

Salim Mulla, secretary of the Lancashire Council of Mosques, said: “It is ridiculous, I’m shocked.<\/p>\n

“They really should have known he was only a seven-yearold child. I do understand the reasons but this was over the top. I can understand the safety aspect but it doesn’t help relationships with different faiths.”<\/p>\n

International airports will not discuss security policies and anti-terrorism measures and all those involved refused to comment on this case.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By JAYA NARAIN For seven-year-old Javaid Iqbal, the holiday to Florida was a dream trip to reward him for doing well at school. But he was left in tears after he was stopped repeatedly at airports on suspicion of being a terrorist. The security alerts were triggered because Javaid shares his name with a Pakistani […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[92],"class_list":{"0":"post-1069","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-latest-news","7":"tag-terrorism"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1069","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1069"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1069\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1069"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1069"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1069"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}