NEW YORK, Aug 31: A California-based peace activist has said he was barred from boarding a flight from New York because he was wearing a t-shirt with a slogan in Arabic.

California-based Raed Jarrar said he was told by security agents at New York’s John F. Kennedy airport: “you can’t wear a t-shirt with Arabic script and come to an airport. It is like wearing a t-shirt that reads ‘I am a robber’ and going to a bank”.

The t-shirt read in both Arabic and English “we will not be silent,” according to a statement on Jarrar’s website.

A spokesman from the Transport Security Administration was not immediately able to comment on the alleged incident.

“I feel very sad that my personal freedom was taken away like this,” Mr Jarrar said, adding that he intended to pursue the matter through the courts.

“I grew up under authoritarian governments in the Middle East, and one of the reasons I chose to move to the US was that I don’t want an officer to make me change my t-shirt,” he said.

“It sucks to be an Arab/Muslim living in the US these days... You are a suspected terrorist and plane hijacker,” he added in his statement.

Newspapers described Mr Jarrar as of Iraqi and Palestinian extraction and formerly living in Jordan.—AFP