Remember the incident over the summer when a woman was detained by the police, after a crew-member on a Thompson Airways reported her for the ‘suspicious’ activity of reading a book? Faizah Shaheen spoke about her experiences to the WorldLink programme on the Deutsche Welle English language service, as part of an hour long programme about fear.
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At the time, many people dismissed the story as a storm in a paper tea-cup. After all, Ms Shaheen was only detained for a short period of time, and the police need to do their job.
During the interview, Faizah explains why this was indeed a serious incident. Being detained and questioned is incredibly demeaning. The fear induced by the questioning is very real and can have a profound effect on those subjected to it. And when a person has fallen under suspicion for doing something that they have every right to do (in this case, reading a book) there is a degree of justified anger as well.
I also spoke to the Deutsche Welle about the incident, explaining that it was not an anomaly, but part of a wider, worrying trend. My short contribution is at about the five minute mark, but you should listen to the whole thing.
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