Compensación por camiseta en árabe

In the United States lawyers for Raed Jarrar, an airline passenger forced to cover his T-shirt because it displayed an Arabic script, say he has been awarded almost a quarter of a million dollars in compensation.

Rajini Vaidyanathan reports from Washington:

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Lawyers representing Raed Jarrar say the payout is a victory for free speech and a blow to the practice of racial profiling. Back in 2006 Mr Jarrar was waiting to board a flight at New York's JFK airport wearing a T-shirt that read "We Will Not Be Silent" in English and Arabic.

His lawyers claim he was ordered to remove the item of clothing by staff who said other passengers felt uncomfortable with the Arabic slogan. He eventually agreed to cover the shirt and boarded the plane, but says he was made to sit at the back. The Transport Security Authority and JetBlue airlines agreed to settle the case, paying out a total of $240,000 in compensation.

The American Civil Liberties Union, which represented Mr Jarrar, argues that this case is not isolated. It follows an incident last week in the United States where a Muslim family were ordered off a domestic flight operated by AirTran airlines after passengers claimed they were making suspicious remarks about security. The group was later cleared by the FBI, but were not permitted to fly with the airline to continue their journey.

Rajini Vaidyanathan, BBC News, Washington

 Listen to the words

payout
una compensación

the practice of racial profiling
la costumbre de estereotipar las características raciales

slogan
eslogan

to settle the case
llegar a un acuerdo (sin ir a un tribunal)

argues that this case is not isolated
argumenta que este caso no es único

ordered off
le ordenaron (bajarse del avion)

suspicious
sospechosos (en este caso comentarios)

cleared
lo declararon inocente

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