"We have gone through a traumatic experience. Really it dehumanized us," Kutty, right said, left is Hamid (Pic courtesy of CBC News)

TORONTO, Canada, September 14 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Without any charges, one of Canada's most moderate and respected Imams was pulled off his plane after landing at Orlando airport, Florida, detained for 16 hours and then forced back to Canada.

Ahmed Kutty, an imam and scholar at the Islamic Institute of Toronto and at the city's west-end Jami Mosque, and fellow Toronto imam Abdul Hamid, who was also detained, were traveling to Florida to attend seminars and give a  series of lectures and sermons on, among other things, the dangers of fanaticism in the Islamic world, reported the Toronto Star Saturday, September 13.

"Kutty, who has preached tolerance and peace throughout North America for more than two decades, was ordered off his Orlando-bound flight from Toronto and interrogated in an airport holding cell and a local jail for 16 hours as the U.S. marked the second anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington," said the paper.

"We have gone through a traumatic experience. Really it dehumanized us," the Canadian daily quoted Kutty as saying, upon arrival at Pearson International Airport Friday night.

Kutty added that he was pulled off the plane at 9:30 a.m. Thursday and was grilled by at least 10 officials until about 1:30 a.m. Friday.

"They handcuffed us and took us to jail," he said, adding that U.S. immigration officials told him his Islamic Institute of Toronto organization sounded familiar in name to the Islamic Institution of America, which he assumed was some sort of suspect group.

"Authorities, Kutty said, were especially interested in a business card that he carried in his wallet bearing the name Islamic Society of North America.

"He said immigration officials made him sign a waiver giving up his application to enter the United States," according to the Star.

Kutty was also quoted as saying he would not return to the United States and would caution others in the Canadian Muslim community against doing so.

U.S. Must Apologize

The two imams insisted Washington must apologize officially for their unjustified detention.

And the Muslim Canadian Congress (MCC) was so offended by the treatment of the two men that it is advising Muslims not to travel to the United States, according to CBC News website.

"You get a feeling that in the United States any Muslim is fair game," Tarek Fatah, a founder of the MCC, was quoted as saying Saturday.

"Wrong Day To Fly"

"Because of security reasons, they were found inadmissible," said Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman Nina Pruneda.

"She would not elaborate, but a local Muslim civil rights leader said he was outraged because the men reported comments from an agent that they had picked the wrong day to fly - Sept. 11," the Canadian paper said.

"Since when are Muslims throughout the world being told they cannot travel on Sept. 11?" asked Altaf Ali, Florida executive director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).

"Does that mean we are being held  responsible for the actions of 19 individuals?

"This is by far the most bizarre incident I have ever heard of or witnessed," said Ali, who visited Hamid in a Fort Lauderdale jail.

"You are allowed to fly on any day you wish in this country," Ali said, adding that he had been denied permission to see Hamid's affidavit by the Homeland Security department.

Khurrum Wahid, a New York lawyer who spoke with Kutty, called the decision "outrageous" and said he would be willing to file a lawsuit against the U.S. government if Kutty wanted to take the case further, according to the Star.

"In the wake of 9/11, Kutty became a beacon of reason and calm within the city's Muslim community. In an October, 2001 column, the Star's Jim Coyle quoted one of the imam's sermons at the Jami Mosque in which he cautioned his congregation against Islamic extremism:

"Let us make no mistake about it: Today, Muslims have no enemy greater than fanatics in their midst.

"Let us know that fanaticism is ignorance; it is nothing but sickness and bigotry; let us know that fanaticism is opposed to both scripture and reason," the paper wrote.

"Muslim leaders in Canada were quick to slam the detentions as racially motivated and were calling on Ottawa to denounce the incident and insist on fairer treatment for Islamic Canadians and Arabs traveling to the United States".

Listen To Kutty Telling IslamOnline.net What Really Happened