KANSAS CITY: A Malaysian man filed a discrimination lawsuit on Friday (Mar 16) after his home country's flag he used at an outdoor party was mistaken for an American flag desecrated with the Islamic State militant group's symbols.

According to lawsuit documents, Malaysian citizen Munir Zanial, an engineer based in the US, was reported to the FBI last September after he rented a recreational lake in Kansas operated by the Spirit Boeing Employees' Association (SBEA).



Most of the 45 guests at the event were Muslim and some female guests wore hijabs. There was also a Malaysian flag to mark the 60th anniversary of Malaysia's independence and the guests took turns posing with it, according to the lawsuit paperwork.

An employee of the lake, described in the lawsuit as a park ranger, reported to the SBEA that a group "dressed in Muslim garb" had an "American flag desecrated with Islamic State symbols".



The ranger allegedly filed a complaint with SBEA that Mr Munir and his guests had an ISIS flag, and the association in turn made a report with the Spirit security team, according to the lawsuit. Spirit then allegedly filed a complaint with the FBI, the suit added.



After about a month, an FBI special agent informed Mr Munir of the investigation, and told him that he had determined that the flag was Malaysian. He also said that he intended to recommend that the investigation be closed, the lawsuit said.



But in January 2018, Mr Munir was told that he was barred from renting the recreational lake facility because of a previous party.

The suit documents spell out that the incident has left him stressed and suffering from anxiety.

"He is concerned that the investigation could affect his lawful permanent residence status," according to the suit. "He also feels distress and humiliation based on this experience of being singled out because of his ethnicity, race and religion."

