The Muslim News - Muslim BBC journalist held down by six officers

Issue 228, Friday 25 April 2008 - 20 Rabi' al-Akhar 1429

Muslim BBC journalist held down by six officers

By Elham Asaad Buaras

A Muslim journalist was held to the ground by police officers after his radio equipment was mistaken for an explosive device.
Max Khan, 39, was covering a story for BBC Radio Stoke when six officers held him down and searched his backpack. Staffordshire Police said it had received reports that a man with a large backpack with wires or aerials coming from it was acting suspiciously outside the Potteries Shopping Centre in Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent on April 7.
Khan, said officers gripped him tighter when he attempted to reach for his BBC identity badge on his belt.
“I felt a thud against me which was a police officer grabbing my arm,” he explained.
“They asked me quite forcefully to put my equipment down and get on the floor. I went down on my knees and they told me to get on the floor, which I did.
“One officer examined the equipment while others held me down. I was trying to explain to them that I was a BBC reporter and was returning from a job.
“I think at that point I decided to go for my ID badge which was on my belt, which was probably not a great idea because they all panicked and pushed down on me harder.”
Khan, whose brother is a senior police officer with West Midlands Police, said the officers eventually realised he was telling the truth and apologised. “I think they thought [the backpack] was a bomb device,” Khan said.
“One of the officers said to me that they had received a report of a Middle Eastern gentleman carrying a backpack with wires and aerials hanging out of it.” Khan said he was told by police they were about to call their firearms unit to the incident.
Ironically an agreement exists between the BBC and the Police not to put identifiable markings on the rucksacks to avoid reporters becoming terror targets.
In a statement to The Muslim News Chief Superintendent Jane Sawyers, of Staffordshire Police, said, “Our first duty in cases like this is the safety of the public. The person and our officers, and presented with this limited information, local officers immediately responded and positively acted to ensure everyone’s safety.
“I want to apologise for any distress caused but the action taken was necessary. I am pleased with the positive and professional way the officers dealt with the incident. Bearing in mind the current national terrorism alert level we were able to resolve this incident quickly and safely.”
A spokesperson for the BBC told The Muslim News, “Police have apologised for this incident and as far as the BBC is concerned the matter is now closed.”
However, speaking on behalf of her husband who has been gagged by the BBC, Saadia Khan told The Muslim News, “I want to see how the BBC reacts if the same happens to one of its white reporters in China during the Olympics this summer. Will it accept an apology from the police there and call it an end to the matter?”
She also challenged the rationale of the police, asking, “What’s so special about Stoke that Al Qa’ida would make it a target? Why should terrorists stick to rucksacks to carry their bombs and after months of planning why leave wires hanging out of it?”
Saadia, who maintains her husband was targeted because of “the colour of his skin”, blasted the police’s risk assessment, claiming that had her husband been a terrorist, police would have put the public in danger. “Not only would half a dozen officers have been killed but also many members of the public. If, as Max was told afterwards, they doubted he was a terrorist, then an officer should have approached him and explained the situation and asked to see the backpack and his BBC identity card. ‘Stop and Search’ doesn’t mean drag someone to the ground, hold them down whilst you search them and then explain what you are doing.”