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| N.Y. Prison Imam Fired for Remarks at Prayer Service for Sept. 11 Victims |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 03/08/2002 |
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A state prison imam was fired for making remarks administrators considered inflammatory during a Sept. 11 prayer service for victims of the World Trade Center terrorist attack. Sufwan El Hadi's comments to inmates and staff at the Cape Vincent Correctional Facility during that emotional day, in which the imam appeared to suggest that sins by the victims caused the attacks, could have 'caused a riot,' concluded arbiter Paul Zonderman. El Hadi 'may appear to be a sweet and well-meaning person, and he may be an effective and sincere and knowledgeable spiritual leader,' Zonderman said in a decision released Wednesday. 'But I must agree with the facility administration that grievant (El Hadi) has no place within a correctional facility.' The imam's comments were an 'exhibition of poor judgment which suggests that it would be a potential security risk' to let him serve as a spiritual adviser to inmates anywhere in the state prison system, Zonderman said. El Hadi, 31, had worked as a chaplain in the prison system for about five years and, on Sept. 11, was splitting his time between two northern New York prisons, Cape Vincent and Watertown. As Zonderman's arbitration ruling noted, about 80 percent of the 1,100 inmates at Cape Vincent are from New York City. Because of the disruption of phone service and the general chaos in the hours following the destruction of the World Trade Center towers, many inmates were on edge worrying about the safety of their relatives in the city. During an ecumenical prayer service that afternoon, El Hadi and a Roman Catholic chaplain at Cape Vincent were told by the prison's administrators to try to calm inmates' fears and to speak about peace and patience. According to the Zonderman ruling, witnesses to El Hadi's comments said he talked about how God punishes the wicked and that if his listeners didn't mend their ways, they might be next. El Hadi was suspended without pay from his $55,200-a-year post a few days after the presentation. 'The commissioner had said from the beginning that his (El Hadi's) comments were insensitive, inflammatory and inappropriate in a prison setting and the arbitrator has confirmed that,' said James Flateau, a spokesman for the state Department of Correctional Services. 'We cannot have people making those kinds of statements inside of a prison.' Flateau said a female imam has been suspended without pay for making virtually identical comments to inmates and staff during a prayer service at the Albion Correctional Facility on Sept. 11. An arbiter's ruling is pending in that case. |
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