A Christian man says he was removed off an easyJet flight to Amsterdam at Luton Airport after a fellow passenger read a message about a “prayer” on his phone.

Forty-year-old Laolu Opebiyi, from London, said he was made to hand his phone over to police and reveal his texts, which were in fact plans with his friends to arrange a conference call prayer on WhatsApp group called “ISI Men” reports the Guardian.

He was questioned and cleared by a detective, although the pilot refused to let Opebiyi re-board the flight and he was made to wait three hours for the next scheduled plane to Amsterdam last Thursday.

Opebiyi is a Nigerian-born Christian and believes that the passenger who reported him as a security threat assumed that he is a Muslim.

He told the newspaper, “That guy doesn’t know me and within two minutes he’s judging me. Even if I was a Muslim, it was pretty unfair the way I was treated. I don’t think anyone, irrespective of their religion, should be treated in such a way.

“If we keep on giving into this kind of bigotry and irrational fear, I dare say that the terrorists will have achieved their aim.”

According to Opebiyi, the male passenger asked “what do you mean by ‘prayer’?” after reading the message over his shoulder, to which he explained to the man that he was arranging to pray with friends. The man then spoke to cabin crew and went into the cockpit.

Some time later, two armed officers escorted Opebiyi off the plane with his belongings.

After officers explained that he had been escorted off the plane because of the other passenger’s concerns, Opebiyi produced a copy of the Bible and police questioned the title of his WhatsApp group – ISI Men – which is an acronym for the Biblical quote “iron sharpens iron”.

He said: “Someone felt I was a terrorist because they saw the word ‘prayer’ on my phone and now I stand in uncertainty about my freedom of movement in and out of the United Kingdom.”

An easyJet spokesman said: “The safety and security of its passengers and crew is our highest priority which means that if a security concern is raised we will always investigate it as a precautionary measure. We would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused to the passenger.”