British Airways told sacked bag handler 'all Mussies are terrorists'

London, Feb 24 (ANI): A Muslim baggage handler, who was sacked by British Airways amid fears that he was being groomed for a terror plot, has claimed that he was told "all Mussies are terrorists."

British Airways had said Shahzada Khan was named in coded messages sent to Yemeni hate preacher Ayman al-Awlaki, detailing plans to detonate a US-bound flight.

The heavily encrypted emails were sent by jailed plotter Rajib Karim, a friend of the 45-year-old through his brother-in-law, and described how a man referred to only as "shzd" would be used to place a package on an aircraft.

An employment tribunal panel heard that Karim said a phonebook entry in the name "shzd" was Khan and 'the father' was found by police with a video of al-Awlaki's vile teachings on his computer, together with sermons by Osama Bin Laden.

Khan, Heathrow Terminal 5 worker who was arrested by police and quizzed for six days in March, 2010, but was released without charge, has now claimed that he was the victim of Islamaphobia by the airline.

Khan told the employment tribunal that Ron Clark, employed to train staff in baggage handling, told him that, "all Mussies are terrorists" and later launched a bid to get him sacked, The Daily Mail reports.

When news of Karim's terror plot hit the front pages of national newspapers an internal investigation into Khan was launched by Tom Dollery, an employee of British Airways.

"Ron Clark said to Tom Dollery that I had been watched for a number of years and that he had contact with counter terrorism police and he had been keeping an eye on me," Khan told the tribunal in Reading, Berks.

"He alleged that I had said in the British Airways restroom that not enough British servicemen were being killed in Afghanistan, which was completely false," he added.

Khan also denied any reference related to his name when used in the coded messages.

"The "shzd" entry in Rajib's phone book was admitted by Rajib to be a reference to myself, but it doesn't follow that each and every reference to "shzd" is to me," he said. (ANI)