Muslim women barred from Pakistan flight for refusing scan
LONDON: Two Muslim women were stopped from boarding a flight from Britain to Pakistan for refusing to go through new body scanners, citing religious and medical reasons, airport officials said on Thursday.
The pair – travelling together at the Manchester airport last month – is the first confirmed cases in Britain of anyone being refused travel since body scanners became mandatory at the airports using them on February 1.
The two women, who are British residents, were travelling on a Pakistan International Airlines flight to Islamabad from Manchester Airport in northwest England on February 19. They were randomly selected to go through the scanners but refused to do so, Britain’s busiest non-London airport said.
The Manchester Airport said security officers spent half an hour with the women listening to their concerns and explaining how the scanners worked but they still chose not to fly. London Heathrow Airport, the worldÂ’s busiest passenger air hub, is the only other British airport with a body scanner so far but has no record of anyone refusing to use it.
Source: The News
Date:3/5/2010
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