Islamic Council Files Profiling Complaint Against Greyhound Buses

July 12, 2002

Source: The Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A58462-2002Jul11.html

On July 12, 2002 The Washington Post reported a passenger and American citizen "of Middle Eastern descent was ordered off a Greyhound bus last month at the terminal in the District, prompting a complaint of ethnic profiling yesterday from... the Council on American-Islamic Relations...

The incident occurred as El-Naham... was switching buses in the District en route to Richmond. He said that he tried to sit in the front of the Virginia-bound bus, to avoid the frigid air-conditioning in the rear, but that the driver told him that he couldn't occupy the forward seats. El-Naham said he then moved to the back...

When the bus departure was delayed, he said, he got off to phone a friend. He said he tried to reboard but was sent to a security officer, who told him that he couldn't ride the bus... El-Naham was allowed to complete his trip on a later Greyhound bus... Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman for the council, said the incident appeared to be part of a wave of ethnic-profiling incidents involving transportation companies, especially airlines, since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks."