New York City Muslim Cleric Hate
(Harlem-WABC, March 9, 2006) - The head of Islamic chaplains with the city's corrections department is on administrative leave.
During a secretly recorded speech, he's heard trashing President Bush and complaining about what he calls Zionists in the media. Is it extremism or freedom of speech?
Eyewitness News Reporter Nina Pineda is in Harlem with the story.
As the director of ministerial services, Imam Umar Abdul-Jalil supervisors about 1500 employees in the city's Department of Corrections. They service 100,000 inmates.
So you have to ask, does or does not the city have the right to regulate or look into what he says as a civil service employee of the city.
Seen at Mayor Bloomberg's inauguration, Imam Umar Abdul-Jalil is doing what he's been called on to do by what Mayor Bloomberg and Governor Pataki especially since 9/11 to promote tolerance and understanding.
Mayor Bloomberg: "We put the chaplain on administrative leave at eight o'clock this morning."
The chaplain was asked to leave immediately and have no contact with inmates after the city learned that he made statements construed by some as derogatory against Jews and the government of the United States.
On the tape, he says: "We have to stop allowing as the imam said to be reactionary, the Zionists of the media to dictate what Islam is to us."
He goes on to say: "We know that the greatest terrorists in the world occupy the White House without a doubt."
In another speech, made at the same Islamic conference in Arizona to the Muslim Student Association, the imam talks about Muslims being tortured in New York City.
Abdul-Jalil: "They are not charged with anything, they are not entitled to any rights, they are interrogated. Some of them are literally tortured and we found this in our facility in the metropolitan correctional facility which is the federal facility in Manhattan. But they are literally torturing people."
Wassim Nasr, Council on Islamic Relations: "There are other things that are the truth in his statements. For example, harsh treatment of Muslim prisoners at the Metropolitan Detention Center and the jails in New York, so I think we can't mix the two together. And even if it was his opinion, this is America and we are allowed to express our opinions publicly."
While the Council on Islamic Relations doesn't agree with all the statements, the director examined the transcripts with us and defended the imam's right to expression. But the organization named The Investigative Group in Washington, D.C. -- which made the secret recordings -- slammed the imam for trying to install hatred of the U.S.
Josh Schrager, The Investigative Group: "We have a man in the public's trust that is talking to prisoners, spousing anti-semetic comments, spousing anti-American comments."
The imam responded by saying, "I'm very saddened and offended that as an African American that someone would have the audacity to question my citizenship and love of this country."
The imam has a mosque here in Harlem and will meet with the Council of Islamic Imams. He will make a statement to the press on Friday.