Muhammad Abu Tahir, 47, of Glen Allen, Va., pleaded not guilty Tuesday in Denver federal court to interfering with a flight crew. Authorities say he drank five mini-bottles of wine, locked himself in a lavatory to shave and then became unruly when he was asked to return to his seat.
He faces up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine if convicted. He is free on a $10,000 unsecured bond but is barred from drinking alcohol and flying on airplanes. Tahir said he travelled by car to Denver for the hearing.
Outside of court, Tahir said he was told by a flight attendant that he was OK when he went to the lavatory to shave.
"After that, I don't remember," he said in broken English after his court hearing, adding that he had never before been in trouble with the law.
Investigators say Tahir went to the bathroom and opened the door once to place his shoes and socks outside the lavatory. The second time he opened the door, he was shirtless and he began to yell at flight attendants ordering him to leave the bathroom, investigators said. When the plane landed, Tahir was still in the bathroom, they said.
"I had to clean myself. I was on a plane for four hours. I shave everyday. Maybe I was drunk. I apologize for that," Tahir said.
Tahir, who speaks Urdu and appeared in court with an interpreter, said he normally doesn't drink but had that day. Urdu is the official language of Pakistan.
"She refused to give me a sixth bottle," Tahir said of the parts he remembers of the night. "And she charged me for it."
The incident occurred on an AirTran Airways flight from Atlanta to San Francisco on Jan. 8. The plane was diverted to Colorado Springs, Colo., where Tahir was arrested.
The North American Aerospace Defense Command sent two jets to follow the plane as a precaution. Jeff Dorschner, a U.S. Attorney's Office spokesman, has said prosecutors believe Tahir has no connection to terrorism and was nothing more than an unruly passenger.
Tahir's arrest came during a time of growing anxiety over airline security. Exactly two weeks before his arrest, a Nigerian man allegedly tried to blow up a Detroit-bound Northwest Airlines plane on Christmas Day with an explosive-laden device hidden in his underwear.
Tahir's court-appointed attorney, Ed Pluss, has said his client was on his way to Hong Kong to buy fabric for a business he is starting. Tahir is a Pakistani national who became a permanent U.S. resident in 2005. He is married and has two children and has no ties to terrorists, his attorney said.
Tahir said he's been in the United States for 10 years.
