The women apparently became the first to refuse the X-ray scan. About 15,000 people have already passed through the contentious scanners. One of the women refused to go through the full-body scanner on religious grounds while the other declined for what she said were “medical reasons.”
The $120,000 scanners were first introduced at Heathrow and Manchester airports in Britain February 5.
Civil liberties activists have said the episode could form the basis of a legal test case to challenge the use of the Rapiscan screening machines.
In the United States passengers are given a choice of going through the body scanner or being patted down by an inspector of the same gender. It wasn’t known why that option was not available at Manchester.
Alex Deane, director of the campaign organization Big Brother Watch, said the group would represent the women if they wished to take their case to court. Deane told the Daily Mail of London, “People shouldn’t have to sacrifice their health, their faith, their dignity, or their privacy in order to fly.”
But Councilor Afzal Khan, Manchester’s first Asian lord mayor, told the Daily Mail that most Muslims believed any privacy issues should be trumped by security issues.
“Hundreds of Muslim passengers have gone through without a problem. While I appreciate people’s concerns for privacy, these steps are necessary for our safety and security,” Khan said.
One week after the scanners were first introduced at Manchester and Heathrow airports, Islamic scholars in the United States issued a fatwa, or religious ruling, telling Muslims to avoid passing through the scanners.
In its fatwa, the Fiqh Council of North America said, “It is a violation of clear Islamic teachings that men or women be seen naked by other men and women. Islam highly emphasizes haya [modesty] and considers it part of faith. The Qoran has commanded the believers, both men and women, to cover their private parts.”
There are currently 40 such scanners in 19 airports across the United States with as many as 450 expected by the end of the year.
