Author: Jonathan Wynne-Jones, Religious Affairs
Correspondent
Publication: Telegraph.co.uk
Date: November 27, 2011
URL: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/8917675/Christian-worker-loses-her-job-after-being-targeted-by-Islamic-extremists.html
A Christian worker has launched a landmark legal action after she lost her
job when she blew the whistle on what she says was a campaign of "race
hate" by fundmentalist Muslims.
Nohad Halawi, who worked at Heathrow Airport,
is suing her former employers for unfair dismissal, claiming that she and
other Christian staff at the airport were victims of systematic harassment
because of their religion.
She claims that she was told that she would
go to Hell for her religion, that Jews were responsible for the September
11th terror attacks, and that a friend was reduced to tears having been bullied
for wearing a cross.
Mrs Halawi, who came to Britain from Lebanon
in 1977, worked in the duty-free section as a perfume saleswoman of the airport
for 13 years but was dismissed in July.
Her case is being supported by the Christian
Legal Centre, who say it raises important legal issues and also questions
over whether Muslims and Christians are treated differently by employers.
It comes amid growing concern among some
Christians that their faith is being marginalised and follows calls from Lord
Carey, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, for Christians to be given greater
legal protection in the wake of a series of cases where they have been disciplined
or dismissed for practising their faith.
It also raises further questions over race
relations at Heathrow Airport.
Last week, Arieh Zucker, a Jewish businessman,
complained that he has been repeatedly singled out for full-body scans by
Muslim security staff at the airport.
The 41-year-old mortgage broker from London
has accused them of "race hate" and is threatening to sue for racial
discrimination after being made to "feel like a criminal" while
being scanned.
Mrs Halawi's case centres on whether she
was treated unfairly when she lost her job in World Duty Free in Terminal
3 after she spoke out over what she described as bullying and intimidation
by her Muslim colleagues of her and other Christians.
She said that she was the subject of a complaint
by an Islamic colleague which was specious and that when she raised her own
concerns as a Christian, she was the one who was dismissed.
Now she is distraught at losing her job on
allegations made by what she describes as a small group of "extremist"
Muslims.
Mrs Halawi, 47, said: "I have been sacked
on the basis of unsubstantiated complaints so there is now great fear amongst
my former colleagues that the same could happen to them if one of the Muslims
turns on them.
"This is supposed to be a Christian
country, but the law seems to be on the side of the Muslims."
A mother of two, she says that she had always
got on well with her Muslim colleagues and relations between staff of different
faiths had been good in the past, but that the atmosphere became increasingly
uncomfortable with a growing number of employees espousing "fundamentalist
Islam".
She says they harassed Christians at work
by making fun of them for wearing crosses, ridiculing Jesus and telling them
they would go to Hell if they did not convert to Islam.
"One man brought in the Koran to work
and insisted I read it and another brought in Islamic leaflets and handed
them out to other employees," she said.
"They said that 9/11 served the Americans
right and that they hated the West, but that they had come here because they
want to convert people to Islam.
"They say that Jesus is s***** [shitty]
and bullied a Christian friend of mine so much for wearing her crosses that
she came to me crying."
Mrs Halawi says she was targeted by the fundamentalists
after she stood up for her friend, who is 62 and who she is keeping anonymous
because she still works at the terminal.
In May, five of her Muslim colleagues complained
to David Tunnicliffe, the trading manager at World Duty Free, accusing her
of being anti-Islamic following a heated conversation in the store.
The row had stemmed from her description
of a Muslim colleague as an allawhi, which means 'man of God' in Arabic. Another
Muslim overheard this and thought she said Alawi, which was his branch of
Islam.
Following the complaints she was suspended
immediately, but was not told the grounds for her suspension until she met
Mr Tunnicliffe in July.
Two days after the meeting she received a
letter, which said the "store approval" - the Heathrow security
pass - needed to work at World Duty Free was being removed because her behaviour
was deemed to be unacceptable.
"I believe that the breakdown in relationship
between yourself and some of your colleagues has contributed to this situation
and has led to a number of inappropriate conversations taking place,"
the letter said.
"Whilst I do not believe that you may
have meant to be offensive, I believe that it was not unreasonable for the
individuals who either heard these comments, or who they were directed at
to find them offensive, and they are extremely inappropriate."
However, the only comments she made which
Mr Tunnicliffe claimed were offensive relate to her accusing a Muslim colleague
of having "extremist leaflets" and asking another Muslim why Jesus
was being described as "s*****".
She was paid on a freelance basis by Caroline
South Associates, a fragrance and cosmetics agency that provides staff to
work in World Duty Free, and was told that she would not be able to continue
working without her pass.
A petition signed by 28 colleagues, some
of them Muslims, argued that she has been dismissed on the basis of "malicious
lies", but failed to see her reinstated.
Andrea Minichiello Williams, founder and
director of the Christian Legal Centre, said that the case is one of the most
serious they have handled.
"It raises huge issues," she said.
"First, there is the level of Islamic
fundamentalism prevalent at our main point of entry to the UK.
"Then there are very real issues of
religious discrimination, which it would appear those in authority are turning
a blind eye to, using the current loop-holes in employment law as an excuse."
The centre has instructed Paul Diamond, a
leading human rights barrister, to represent Mrs Halawi in taking both Caroline
South Associates and Autogrill Retail UK Limited, which trades as World Duty
Free, to an employment tribunal.
They hope that the case will set a precedent
for thousands of people like Mrs Halaoui who would appear to be employees
from the working relationship, but actually have no rights because of their
self-employed status.
A lawyer acting for CSA said: "The case
is still pending so the company is not in a position to comment, but as far
as the company is concerned she's never been an employee and has never been
dismissed."
A spokesman for World Duty Free said they
were unable to comment because the matter is subject to "ongoing legal
proceedings".