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British woman held after being seen reading book about Syria on plane
- joncrocks 10y agoWhen you get amateurs to do your security, you get amateur security.
- TazeTSchnitzel 10y agoI wonder, if she had a different name and appearance, if she wouldn't have been suspected.
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- toomanybeersies 10y agoThis reminds me a lot of the people questioned after the Boston bombing for "suspicious" Google searches. [0] One person was questioned after searching for pressure cooker bombs at work, and the other was questioned because she was searching for pressure cookers, and her partner was searching for backpacks. [0]: http://nypost.com/2013/08/02/li-man-questioned-for-computer-history-after-searching-for-pressure-cooker-bombs/ http://nypost.com/2013/08/02/li-man-questioned-for-computer-...
- walrus01 10y agowhatever you do, don't search for 55 gallon steel drums, the recipe for ANFO, and ryder rental trucks
- xntrk 10y agoI guess she'll be switching to ebooks now...
- jasonjei 10y agoAs a practical consideration, one might be able to wrap a cover around a book. If one is peering over your shoulder, an ebook might be advised with a privacy screen.
- e0 10y agoUntil the airline crew conclude that hiding the title of the book one is reading is equally suspicious. After all, innocent people have nothing to hide, right?
- jasonjei 10y agoUse a cover depicting flowers or palm trees, nobody will suspect anything--or as the poster suggested via YouTube video, a cover with the title "Ass Eating Made Simple" /s But yes, I could see that too...
- mikeash 10y agoI think we should all wrap our airline reading material in fake covers showing the title of this book.
- Jtsummers 10y agoAnd women should cover themselves to prevent men from succumbing to temptation...
- jkot 10y ago> on her return from her honeymoon in Turkey Many people left UK to join ISIS or to be kidnapped... Syria is a warzone, and if you are travelling in/from that direction it will raise a questions. > Police officers questioned Shaheen for 15 minutes This article is a joke.
- radiorental 10y agoCould you clarify the point you're trying to make. I can't tell if you're being sarcastic or voting for Trump. Poe's Law in effect.
- jkot 10y agoShe was traveling Turkey > UK, that is usual path someone from Syria would take. That on its own is enough to raise questions. For some examples read related content under article. She was 'held' (original title was 'detained') for 15 minutes. That is not even rounding error at UK international airports. And half of the article is an ad for the book.
- tgb 10y agoYour quote says it was the opposite flight when she was detained.
- ksk 10y ago> that is usual path someone from Syria would take. That on its own is enough to raise questions. What nonsense. If dodgy individuals constantly feature on this route why does the flight even exist then? Just for "safe" non-brown non-black people? >She was 'held' (original title was 'detained') for 15 minutes. "Police officers questioned Shaheen for 15 minutes under Schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act, " Yeah, Under the terrorism act... For reading a book about art.
- PJDK 10y agoNo she was questioned for being reported as suspicious by a flight attendant. Given it was only for 15 minutes I imagine pretty quickly it became "oh, it's a book about art, bloody flight attendants are idiots. Ok, well we need to check your bag for any other books, sorry about this". Except more formal than that as they have a nice sheet full of questions they have to ask for this sort of thing (source, I had a knife in my bag at Gatwick once and went through something I imagine was quite similar - except much more my fault obviously).
- azuajef 10y agoSimilar incident - a man doing math: https://stactivist.com/2016/05/12/equations-on-an-airplane/ https://stactivist.com/2016/05/12/equations-on-an-airplane/
- walrus01 10y agoby that logic - algebra is a word from arabic, al jabr, if you follow it to its ultimate conclusion of somebody with a racist myopic worldview, arabic = desert and camels and guys with swords = terrorism = ISIS
- anexprogrammer 10y agoKeep going... Lock up everyone who uses those radical Arabic numerals then?
- gilleain 10y agoAlso chemistry/alchemy comes (sortof) from the Arabic "al-kīmiyā" - or further back, from the Egyptian name for Egypt. So any chemist reading books on "Free Radicals" should be questioned immediately!
- walrus01 10y agolet's ban elephants while we're at it, since elephant is derived from the arabic "al feel". Also Giraffes, arabic "zarafa"
- peterkelly 10y agoI thought the recent Onion article "Encouraging New Study Indicates Majority Of U.S. Students Can Now Recognize Math" was satire... but perhaps sadly it isn't as far-fetched as it seems. http://www.theonion.com/article/encouraging-new-study-indicates-majority-us-studen-53392 http://www.theonion.com/article/encouraging-new-study-indica...
- visarga 10y ago> However, like all airlines, our crew are trained to report any concerns they may have as a precaution And their superiors are trained to call the police in any case, just as a precaution. And the police are trained to jail anyone who is reported, just a as precaution. The only one who can stop this slippery slope is the person in charge with fighting terrorism, but he is too busy to intervene. /s This kind of freedom - to read Syria related books in a plane - has long died. We're just now aware of it. Maybe 20 years ago it was OK, but now we got other priorities.
- PJDK 10y agoFrom the article "Police officers questioned Shaheen for 15 minutes under Schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act, under which the police can detain individuals without grounds for suspicion of involvement in criminal activities, including terrorism." So...someone over reacted/misunderstood, the police had a chat, and she went home. Detained is not arrested, it's not on record it just means you aren't allowed to walk off (IANAL but that's how I understand it). Someone in the cabin crew was a bit dumb, but it was over within half an hour of it hitting an actual authority figure. Not a pleasant experience, but the only people at fault here are cabin creq
- WillPostForFood 10y agoWe are now in a place where you are racist if you report something and you are wrong, and you are an idiot if you don't report something and something bad happens. Most people would rather be labeled an idiot, and we have yet another terror attack in Europe.
- mikeash 10y agoWe are now in a place where you are a racist if you report something stupid based on someone's race and are wrong. Are you trying to make the case that reporting a Muslim for reading a book is somehow not racist?
- WillPostForFood 10y ago
- drinchev 10y agoPositive side of this story is that the community we are living in is actually not with their heads in the sand and report people that look suspicious to them. Maybe in Turkey they will detain a turkish woman, coming from a honeymoon in UK, for reading an article about Fethullah Gülen. That's actually not funny anymore.
- l3m0ndr0p 10y agoThe sheeple that work on the plane are only following what the state has ordered. If you see something, say something. (Found all over NYC) Taglines from Brazil: It's only a state of mind We're all in it together It's about flights of fantasy. And the nightmare of reality. Terrorist bombings. And late night shopping. True Love. And creative plumbing Have a laugh at the horror of things to come Suspicion breeds confidence Be safe be suspicious Relax in a panic free atmosphere Don't suspect a friend, report him
- jstanley 10y ago> I do question if … it would be different if it was someone who wasn’t Muslim. Doubtful. How would they know you're Muslim until after they questioned you?
- IanDrake 10y agoSadly, if I were a Muslim (or just brown) I would be afraid to write code on my laptop while flying. I can hear it now... "He's trying to hack the plane!"
- franciscop 10y agoThis brings a lot of light when once I started programming in the plane and a guy suddenly started to ask me many questions about my job, nationality, etc.
- peterkelly 10y agoI know what I'm taking as reading material on my next flight...
- johansch 10y agoBig f*n deal.