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Dec 2006

Brit Airways stewardess to challenge Bible ban on Saudi flights

     London: The BMI air stewardess who was banned on flights to Saudi Arabia for voicing protest against the airline's ban on taking the Bible on flights to the royal kingdom, is contemplating legal recourse to have the ruling challenged. BMI sources said the matter was subject to an industrial tribunal, but the date has not been yet fixed. According to the Sun, the stewardess is understood to be deeply religious and takes her Bible everywhere she travels. However, BMI said it was merely following the Foreign Office advice that stipulated that no non-Islamic materials or artefacts were to be taken into Saudi Arabia. "The importation and use of narcotics, alcohol, pork products and religious books, apart from the Qu'ran (Koran), and artefacts are forbidden," the paper quoted the Foreign Office website as saying of Saudi Arabia. However, it is to be understood that there has been no intimation to not take the Bible into Saudi Arabia from Riyadh as yet. Interestingly, the BMI case follows that of British Airways worker Nadia Eweida, a committed Christian, whose objection to BA rules which forbade her from visibly wearing a cross, led to a review by BA of its uniform policy.
-Dec 20, 2006