An American student is suing law enforcement officers for abusive treatment and detention for carrying Arabic flashcards and a book critical of the US foreign policy.
"Nick George was handcuffed, arrested and locked in a cell for several hours just for carrying Arabic-English flashcards," American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) attorney Ben Wizner told CNN.
"That was not only illegal and unconstitutional but absolutely did nothing to make air travel any safer."
The 22-year-old student filed a lawsuit accusing seven law enforcement officers of abusive treatment after his landing at Philadelphia airport.
George, a native of Wyncote, Pennsylvania, was arrested on August 29 upon arrival at the airport from California.
Asked to empty his pockets, the student produced a set of hand-made English-Arabic flashcards, some of which had words such as "bomb," "explosion" and "terrorist."
"They asked me why I had those words," recalled George, a senior majoring in physics and Middle Eastern studies at California’s Pomona College.
"I told them honestly because I had been trying to read Arabic news media, especially Al-Jazeera, and these are words that come up when you read the news about the Middle East."
A rain of questions fell on the student after federal agents noticed a book with him titled "Rogue Nation: American Unilateralism and the Failure of Good Intentions".
He was asked whether he knew "who did 9/11," what language Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden spoke and why the English-Arabic flashcards were "suspicious."
George was then handcuffed and taken to the airport police station where he was held in a cell for four hours.
He was later released after being interviewed by two FBI agents.
Arabic Terrorist
Rights groups have criticized the reckless response of the law enforcement officers to seeing the Arabic signs.
"Nick George was questioned about 9/11 simply because he has chosen to study Arabic, a language that is spoken by hundreds of millions of people around the world," said Wizner.
"We need to really make clear that Americans don't give up their constitutional rights when they choose to fly by plane."
George said that his effort to learn Arabic was meant to help his country in filling a gap in critical languages.
"I want to serve my country using my Arabic language."
The US intelligence service has been facing a shortage in critical languages, such as Arabic and Persian.
Aspiring to serve his country, George applied for a State Department to study the Arabic language.
He is also planning to take the Foreign Service exam after college.
"It just seems crazy to me that for that I was arrested and treated like a criminal."
"Nick George was handcuffed, arrested and locked in a cell for several hours just for carrying Arabic-English flashcards," American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) attorney Ben Wizner told CNN.
"That was not only illegal and unconstitutional but absolutely did nothing to make air travel any safer."
The 22-year-old student filed a lawsuit accusing seven law enforcement officers of abusive treatment after his landing at Philadelphia airport.
George, a native of Wyncote, Pennsylvania, was arrested on August 29 upon arrival at the airport from California.
Asked to empty his pockets, the student produced a set of hand-made English-Arabic flashcards, some of which had words such as "bomb," "explosion" and "terrorist."
"They asked me why I had those words," recalled George, a senior majoring in physics and Middle Eastern studies at California’s Pomona College.
"I told them honestly because I had been trying to read Arabic news media, especially Al-Jazeera, and these are words that come up when you read the news about the Middle East."
A rain of questions fell on the student after federal agents noticed a book with him titled "Rogue Nation: American Unilateralism and the Failure of Good Intentions".
He was asked whether he knew "who did 9/11," what language Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden spoke and why the English-Arabic flashcards were "suspicious."
George was then handcuffed and taken to the airport police station where he was held in a cell for four hours.
He was later released after being interviewed by two FBI agents.
Arabic Terrorist
Rights groups have criticized the reckless response of the law enforcement officers to seeing the Arabic signs.
"Nick George was questioned about 9/11 simply because he has chosen to study Arabic, a language that is spoken by hundreds of millions of people around the world," said Wizner.
"We need to really make clear that Americans don't give up their constitutional rights when they choose to fly by plane."
George said that his effort to learn Arabic was meant to help his country in filling a gap in critical languages.
"I want to serve my country using my Arabic language."
The US intelligence service has been facing a shortage in critical languages, such as Arabic and Persian.
Aspiring to serve his country, George applied for a State Department to study the Arabic language.
He is also planning to take the Foreign Service exam after college.
"It just seems crazy to me that for that I was arrested and treated like a criminal."
