The Qantas passenger who has kicked off a flight for swearing at crew after claiming they were ‘rude’ to his wife has been identified as a professional rugby player and charity ambassador Zakir Slaimankhel.
Mr Slaimankhel, who recently represented Afghanistan at an international rugby tournament and works for a non-profit organisation, sparked a social media storm after footage of him arguing with Qantas staff went viral online.
The father and his family were removed by police from the Qantas QF44 Denpasar to Sydney flight after he abused crew members ‘a number of times’ last month.
Mr Slaimankhel (pictured) who represented Afghanistan at an international rugby tournament and works for non-profit Muslims Around the World, ignited a social media storm after footage of him arguing with airline staff went viral.
Last month, Mr Slaimankhel (pictured) and his family were removed by police from a Sydney-bound flight from Bali for abusing crew members ‘a number of times’
In footage captured by another passenger sitting a few rows behind the rugby star, Mr Slaimankhel is heard demanding staff apologise to his wife.
‘Tell them to come apologise. I am telling you right now you are being rude, and it’s f****** disgusting,’ he says.
‘They made her cry, and she’s crying because they were being rude to her with a newborn baby, apologise,’ the man said.
‘You’re getting angry at my wife because both of them (their kids) are double teething.
‘Tell them to come apologise now. It’s so disgusting what they did to her.’
In footage captured by another passenger (pictured) sitting a few rows behind the rugby star, Mr Slaimankhel is heard demanding flight attendants apologise to his wife
The encounter escalated after a flight attendant police informed Mr Slaimankhel that police had arrived to remove him from the plane.
‘I’m sorry we are not taking you. The police are here. ‘Unfortunately, sir, you were swearing at my crew. You can’t upset my crew,’ the flight attendant says.
‘Bring them here. You can force my kids out if you want to,’ he fires back.
‘You are making my wife cry, and now you are getting angry at me. Tell security to come and take me by the balls.’
The footage ends with Mr Slaimankhel telling the flight attendant, who at one point put her hand up to silence him, to ‘get out of my face’.
He regularly posts photos to his Instagram of expensive holidays, designer bags, and meet-ups with TikTok sensation Hasbulla Magomedov.
Mr Slaimankhel regularly posts photos to his Instagram of expensive holidays, designer bags and meet-ups with TikTok sensation Hasbulla Magomedov (pictured)
Mr Slaimankhel (pictured with children in Togo, Africa) works for Muslims Around the World, a non-profit organisation that provides people in third world countries with clean water, food, shelter, education and religious charity projects
Mr Slaimankhel works for Muslims Around the World, a non-profit organisation that provides people in third-world countries with clean water, food, shelter, education and religious charity projects.
He captioned a photo of himself surrounded by young children in Togo, on Africa’s west coast: ‘Leaders of the future… these orphans smile more then us’.
On Monday, the doting dad, who lives in New Zealand, posted a photo of his two young children on an economy flight captioned ‘Good to be back’
On Monday, the doting dad, who lives in New Zealand, posted a photo of his two young children on an economy flight captioned ‘Good to be back’.
In August, he represented Afghanistan at the Asia Rugby Sevens championship in Indonesia, where his team placed second, and was the leading try scorer.
In August, Mr Slaimankhel represented Afghanistan at the Asia Rugby Sevens championship in Indonesia where his team placed second, and was the leading try scorer
A Qantas spokesperson said Mr Slaimankhel and his family were removed from the aircraft after ‘abusing our crew a number of times prior to the flight departing Bali’.
They said cabin crew had followed procedure and that a travel ban may be imposed on the passenger when the altercation is reviewed by a panel.
‘The safety of our customers and crew is our number one priority and we do not tolerate any kind of abusive behaviour,’ they said.
Daily Mail Australia has contacted Zakir Slaimankhel for comment.
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