United States v. Javid Naghani

FISHER, Circuit Judge:

Sixteen days after September 11, 2001, Javid Naghani, a passenger on Air Canada Flight 792, went to the lavatory shortly after take-off from Los Angeles International Airport and lit a cigarette, setting off a smoke alarm. When flight attendants came to investigate, a verbal confrontation ensued, beginning with Naghani’s initial refusal to admit to smoking or reveal where he had put whatever had caused the smoke and concluding with Na-ghani’s purported threat that either he or his people would “kill all Americans.” Na-ghani, an Iranian national and United States resident…