U.S. suspends prison Imam over speech

[sonz]

A Muslim chaplain in the New York city jail system has been suspended for two weeks over a speech he gave last year in which he described the Bush administration as “the greatest terrorists in the world”, The Los Angeles Times reported.

Imam Umar Abdul-Jalil, who heads the chaplains unit at the city Correction Department, told attendees at a Muslim youth conference that “the greatest terrorists in the world occupy the White House.”

Officials suspended Imam Abdul-Jalil with pay while they investigated him after news of the comments emerged last week.

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg announced on Tuesday that the Imam would be suspended for two weeks without pay for failing to make clear during his speech that he was speaking as an individual and not on behalf of the Corrections Department.

Following the mayor’s announcement, Imam Abdul-Jalil said he was disappointed with the suspension, but stressed that he still supported the mayor and that he would continue to work with people of all faiths.

"I'm sorry the statement was quoted out of context and was offensive to anyone," Abdul-Jalil said.

Norman Siegel, the civil rights attorney representing the Imam, defended his client. "If you listen to the tape, no reasonable person would believe he was speaking on behalf of the department," he said.

Correction Commissioner Martin Horn as well as a number of city chaplains, including Jewish chaplains, also expressed their support for Imam Abdul-Jalil.

"The fact is that this is an individual that at all hours of the day and night has unfailingly been available, not only to inmates in their time of need, irrespective of their religion, including Jewish inmates, but also in the middle of the night when any member of our department is in need," Correction Commissioner Martin Horn said.

Rabbi Joseph Potasnik, executive vice president of the New York Board of Rabbis and a Fire Department chaplain, also said that Imam Abdul-Jalil is “always concerned with doing the right thing for the inmates. He puts them first, regardless.”