An airline passenger forced to cover his T-shirt because it displayed Arabic script has been awarded US$240,000 in compensation, campaigners said Monday.

Raed Jarrar received the pay out on Friday from two US Transportation Security Authority officials and from JetBlue Airways following an August 2006 incident at New York's JFK Airport.

In August 2006, US citizen Raed Jarrar was waiting to board a Jet Blue flight at NY's JFK Airport when he was pulled aside by airport staff. His offense? The T-shirt he was wearing featured a phrase in Arabic that translates as "We will not be silent."

Mr Jarrar was told that other passengers were uncomfortable with the writing on his shirt. He agreed to cover the 'offending' shirt with another provided by JetBlue. This was very obliging of Mr Jarrar considering that the interference was a high handed breach of his civil rights.

Arabic text sets off paranoid reactions in some people. The passengers who complained about Raed Jarrar's shirt said that the Arabic lettering was kind of like wearing a T-shirt at a bank with a message stating "I am a robber." Perhaps these people live sheltered lives, since a mere encounter with Arabic is enough to have them reaching for the emergency button.

ACLU lawyer, Aden Fine, said - "The outcome of this case is a victory for free speech and a blow to the discriminatory practice of racial profiling."