INVASION OF BODY SCANNERS AT US AIRPORTS - TOP
Sarah Abdullah, Arab News, 9/8/08


With many Muslim Americans leaving the US to perform Umrah and visit the Two Holy Mosques during the holy month of Ramadan, the introduction of full body scanners by the US Transportation Security Administration (TSA) in at least 10 of the country’s major airports has advocacy groups and Islamic civil rights organizations up in arms.

According to a TSA official, the backscatters, which bounce harmless “millimeter waves” off the bodies of passengers as a secondary security measure, will replace metal detectors in at least 2,000 of the nation’s airports in the near future. The body scanners have been deemed unconstitutional and an invasion of privacy due to the fact that the machines show what many civil rights groups say are graphic and detailed images of air passengers bodies and intimate body parts including medical enhancements, all for the sake of national security.

The controversy began to heat up when scanners were introduced in airports in Los Angeles, Baltimore, Denver, Albuquerque, New York’s Kennedy Airport, Dallas, Detroit, Las Vegas and Miami over the last few months following the launch of the machines in Phoenix’s Sky Harbor International Airport early last year.

Director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s Technology and Liberty project, Barry Steinhardt, expressed his views on the scanners in a statement saying, “the TSA’s announcement, as reported, that it will be expanding the use of whole body scanning machines to 10 airports, is a disappointing confirmation of our warnings against the expansion of this “virtual strip search.” . . .

However, the ACLU has argued that the blurring of faces and deleting of images is merely a software fix that could be undone as easily as it is applied and that obscuring the faces of air passengers does not hide the fact that the rest of the body will be vividly displayed and added that “unfortunately the US government’s record of safeguarding private information is not great,” Christina Abraham, civil rights director, Council on American- Islamic Relations (CAIR)-Illinois also agreed saying that even though the scanners are being used as a secondary screening measure and that passengers who are selected for secondary scanning are given the option of a “pat-down” by an officer the fact still remains that the body scanner creates a virtual image of a person’s unclothed body and although the images are not stored anywhere, they are viewed by at least one TSA officer.

Offering her personal opinion on the use of the scanner, Abrahim said, “As a Muslim, this scanner-especially the fact that it is not required that an officer of the same gender view the image-is problematic. More importantly, however, we believe that this violates every American’s right to privacy.

Under US law, for the government to be able to conduct a strip search of a person, they need to have probable cause that a person has a weapon or contraband hidden on their body. The body scanner allows law enforcement to view a person’s body without having to have a cause or even suspicion to believe that a person is carrying weapons or contraband,” she said. “We feel that this is a violation of a person’s 4th Amendment right to be protected from unreasonable searches and seizures.” Additionally, we are concerned that Muslims traveling may be subjected to secondary screenings more because of racial profiling,” Abraham said, adding that they receive regular complaints from Muslim travelers who believe they are being racially profiled or discriminated against by TSA officers.

“Typically these travelers say they were chosen for secondary screening because they look Muslim or have a Muslim name or they are unfairly searched and questioned upon returning from a flight for the same reason,” she said. (MORE)

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CO: JBS SWIFT MUSLIM WORKERS PROTEST RAMADAN REVERSAL - TOP
Chris Casey, Greeley Tribune, 9/9/08


More than 150 Muslim workers didn't report to their meatpacking plant jobs Monday in the wake of what they called JBS Swift & Co.'s sudden reversal of accommodation for their religious fasting during Ramadan.

The workers initially planned a two-mile march from downtown Greeley's Lincoln Park to the plant, but a gathering that formed mid-morning never left the park. Throughout the day, several Greeley police officers watched from the park's edge.

Company officials met with several workers Monday afternoon at the plant, and Somali representatives later spoke with workers in downtown Greeley.

Graen Isse, a Swift worker and group spokesman, said the workers would not discuss details of their grievances, which were supplied to Swift in writing, until the company responded. He said he expected to hear from Swift Tuesday morning.

"I believe (the workers) will be back to their jobs," Isse said.

Asked what would happen if the workers didn't get what they wanted, Isse said, "That's another question. We'll pass on that."

The workers, mostly Somalis but many also from several other East African nations, said they were told by Swift management on Friday to not report to work Monday until the matter of changing break times to accommodate their Ramadan fasts was settled.

On Friday, about 300 Muslim workers left work mid-shift -- about 9:30 p.m. -- when they say they were told not to break at 7:30 p.m., when their roughly 12 hours of daily fasting for Ramadan ended. Earlier in the week, the workers negotiated with Swift to get an earlier break to allow them food and water after their fast.

Several Somali workers said Monday the company had fired as many as six employees on Friday, but a Swift official said Monday afternoon that was not true. (MORE)

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WOMAN: UPS FIRED ME BECAUSE I'M MUSLIM - TOP
United Press International, 9/9/08


A Muslim Canadian woman claims she lost her job scanning boxes at United Parcel Service Inc. (NYSE:UPS) because she refused to hike up her long skirt to her knees.

Nadifo Yusuf, 35, told the Canadian Human Rights Commission she had worked at the Toronto delivery plant as a temporary employee for two years wearing a traditional hijab, headscarf and skirt with no problem -- even tucking in her hijab and raising her skirt to mid-calf for safety reasons.

But around April 2005, when her job was changed to a full-time unionized position, she was told to hike her skirt to knee-length or face losing her job for safety reasons, The Toronto Star reported.

"I was working two years and I became unsafe?" she testified before the tribunal. . .

Yusuf and seven other Muslim women were fired July 13, 2005. (MORE)

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2008/09/09/Woman_UPS_fired_me_because_Im_Muslim/UPI-12821220974642/

http://www.greeleytribune.com/article/20080909/NEWS/109089983/-1/&ParentProfile=1025&profile=1028&parentprofile=-1

http://www.arabnews.com/?page=9§ion=0&article=114013&d=9&m=9&y=2008