London: A British Muslim teacher is demanding an explanation or an apology after being escorted off a US-bound plane without being told why.

Juhel Miah — a 25-year-old maths teacher from Swansea in Wales — is still waiting to learn why he was taken off the jet at Iceland’s Keflavik International Airport almost a week after the incident that made him ‘feel like a criminal’ took place.

Miah, whose family hails from Bangladesh, was part of a group of five staff and 39 pupils from Llangatwg Community School in Aberdulais, Neath, that was heading to New York. They had flown to Reykjavik, where Miah went through a random security check, and had boarded the onward flight — only for a woman to approach him and tell him he would not be allowed to fly.

The incident occurred just weeks after new President Donald Trump signed an executive order barring people from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the US. The order has been suspended by the courts and Miah insists he has never visited any of those seven countries anyway, while he also has a valid visa and doesn’t have a criminal record.

“All I want is a reason, I want to know why they kicked me off the flight,” he told BBC Wales. “Everyone looked at me like I’d done something wrong.

“It made me feel really small, even though it shouldn’t have. I repeatedly asked on what grounds they were kicking me off the flight, no one could give me an answer.

“I can’t think why they wouldn’t want me on the plane, apart from maybe because I’m a Muslim.”

The decision to deny Miah entry to the US has been criticised by politicians, with Wales’ First Minister, Carwyn Jones, writing to Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson for ‘urgent clarification’. The local council has also reportedly contacted the US Embassy to ‘express its dismay’ over the case.

Miah added that if nobody was able to explain why he was taken off the plane, he “would like someone to put their hand up and say ‘sorry, we made a mistake’.”

Recalling the moment he was told he wouldn’t be allowed to fly, he told Wales Online: “As I was getting my luggage, the teachers and kids were confused. I couldn’t believe this was happening.

“All the plane was quiet. I was being escorted out. It made me feel like a criminal. I couldn’t speak, I was lost for words.”

He was unable to gain entry to the US or British embassies while in Reykjavik and returned to the UK a day later. The school trip went ahead as planned without Miah, but he said pupils and colleagues were ‘shocked and distressed’.

- The writer is a freelance journalist based in the UK