
British woman held after being seen reading book about Syria on plane - azuajef
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/aug/04/british-woman-held-after-being-seen-reading-book-about-syria-on-plane
======
visarga
> 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
From 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
We 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
We 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
It's safe to assume there were other muslims reading books on a plane going to
Turkey, and they didn't get reported.

This woman wasn't reported "for reading a book," but because of what book she
was reading. So it was not racist, though her appearance was definitely part
of the decision making process.

~~~
krapp
>It's safe to assume there were other muslims reading books on a plane going
to Turkey, and they didn't get reported.

If any of these books were about Syrian culture, you would have a point. But
the issue is whether or not it's reasonable to suspect, detain and interrogate
someone for reading a book about Syrian culture, regardless of their
appearance.

> though her appearance was definitely part of the decision making process.

I think a more obviously European-looking person reading the same book on the
same plane would not have seemed suspicious, and would never have been
detained. Her appearance even being part of the decision making process is
what makes it racist. That such an absurd thing was taken seriously makes it
racist.

~~~
WillPostForFood
There is a lot of context not in the article. A white European man with a long
beard and clean shaven lip reading the book might have seemed suspicious.
Since what authorities are looking for is people going to fight for teh
Islamic State, then how Islamic you looks is a valid factor in determining
suspicion - that isn't racist.

~~~
krapp
"looking Islamic" while minding your own business isn't suspicious behavior.

------
azuajef
Similar 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
by 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
Keep going... Lock up everyone who uses those radical Arabic numerals then?

~~~
gilleain
Also 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!

------
toomanybeersies
This 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-...](http://nypost.com/2013/08/02/li-man-questioned-for-computer-
history-after-searching-for-pressure-cooker-bombs/)

~~~
walrus01
whatever you do, don't search for 55 gallon steel drums, the recipe for ANFO,
and ryder rental trucks

------
joncrocks
When you get amateurs to do your security, you get amateur security.

------
IanDrake
Sadly, 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
This 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.

------
TazeTSchnitzel
I wonder, if she had a different name and appearance, if she wouldn't have
been suspected.

------
xntrk
I guess she'll be switching to ebooks now...

~~~
jasonjei
As 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
Until 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
Use 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...

------
drinchev
Positive 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.

------
jkot
> _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.

~~~
tmalsburg2
You have no idea how many people are traveling from Europe to the general
direction of Syria or back. A vanishingly small percentage of these people
pose a security threat. Harassing people who read books about Syria is not
going to make anyone safer.

~~~
jkot
It is not just about terrorism. It is a normal procedure to question people
who travel from that region.

Most people traveling from Syria ask for asylum or have no valid travel
documents, do not speak English and need some form of help. She could be
someone who escaped ISIS and needed help.

Some other example: 20 years ago UK border force would question everyone who
was traveling from Czechia. Because 0.1% of travelers from there would ask for
asylum.

~~~
mikeash
It is? It looks like there are maybe two dozen direct flights per day between
London and Istanbul, not even looking at other UK or Turkish cities. That's
probably thousands of passengers per day. Do they all get questioned when they
enter the UK?

------
peterkelly
I know what I'm taking as reading material on my next flight...

------
johansch
Big f __*n deal.

------
jstanley
> 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?

