Nov 25, 5:03 PM EST
NEW YORK (AP) -- A federal judge has ruled that ethnicity is not a valid factor in making an arrest, handing a victory to two Egyptian-born men who sued the government after they were detained at New York's Kennedy Airport.
The government had sought to convince U.S. District Judge Frederic Block in Brooklyn that a person's ethnic background was a valid consideration in light of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Immediately after 9/11, hundreds of Muslims and Arabs were detained, deported and monitored as the government urgently sought information that could prevent another attac
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A spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office in Brooklyn said the government was still considering whether to appeal the decision.
The plaintiffs, Tarik Farag and Amro Elmasry, were held for four hours on Aug. 22, 2004, following a flight from San Diego to John F. Kennedy International Airport.
Two agents with a terrorism task force who also were aboard claimed they became suspicious after Farag, a retired New York City police officer, and Elmasry, a General Electric sales manager, switched seats and spoke in Arabic.
Elmasry caused more concern by repeatedly checking his watch and, in a conversation with one of the agents, revealing he was from Egypt, court papers said.
The agents had the pilot alert authorities at Kennedy that they suspected two Arab passengers were conducting surveillance. As they left the plane, the men were greeted by a team of police officers, handcuffed and thrown in jail cells before being released hours later.
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アメリカ、９．１１以降、アラブ系の人々に対する警戒が強まっている中、空港でどうも怪しいって逮捕。連邦裁判所は、人種を嫌疑の理由とした逮捕は有効でない、という判断。で、政府は控訴するか、考慮中とのこと。
