On Sept. 26, 2002, Maher Arar, a Canadian citizen born in Syria, was returning to Montreal from Tunisia when he was taken into custody at New York's Kennedy Airport.
Shackled and interrogated by INS, FBI and other agencies for several days, Arar repeatedly asked for an attorney, but was refused one. ...
Arar never was charged with a crime. But his real offense might have been simply FWM — flying while Muslim.
—Lawrence Swaim, "Laws need to change," The Argus (Fremont, CA), February 4, 2004
Mahdi Bray of the Muslim American Society said he used to worry about racial profiling as a driver who is black.
"Now I have to be concerned about flying while Muslim," he said.
—Stephanie Erickson, "Concerned about civil rights," Orlando Sentinel, December 15, 2002
This phrase is a play on
driving while black (or
DWB), having a car pulled over (by a police officer) for no other reason than the driver is black. This in turn was a riff on
driving while intoxicated (DWI), an actual offense. Some phrases similar to
flying while Muslim are
flying while Arab (1999) and
flying while brown (2001).
