Source : World Bulletin / 04 Apr 2014

A Muslim woman has said that she was attacked by airport staff in Sweden and forced to remove her headscarf in public.

Saama Sarsour was travelling from the Arvidsjaur airport in northern Sweden when she aroused suspicion after she caused a metal detector to beep.

“The female guard asked me ‘What's on your head’,” she told the Svenska Dagbladet (SvD) newspaper.

She was then told to remove her headscarf, to which she replied that she would do so in a private room.

“Then the woman grabbed the scarf and started yanking it,” she said, “I was totally shocked.”

She then informed the police about what happened but they refused to investigate the attack as a hate crime.

According to a Monday report in The Local, the aiport CEO Ralf Lundberg defended the staff member's actions, saying “all have gone through thorough education and training to make sure no one takes dangerous objects through security.”

However, Sweden's penal code states that frisking should take place in seclusion and airports have separate rooms to do this, airport company Swedavia‘s spokesman Klas Nilsson told SvD.

Sweden, which is usually known for its tolerance, has seen an increase in anti-Muslim hate crimes recently, with 300 odd cases reported in 2013.