Posted on 02/25/2004 9:13:30 PM PST by FairOpinion
WASHINGTON - (KRT) - A Muslim FBI agent, credited for playing a key role in terrorism investigations but criticized by a colleague from Chicago who alleged he didn't do enough, will be reinstated following his controversial firing last year, according to his lawyer and a senior FBI official.
In an unusual move, the FBI overruled the bureau's top disciplinary officer and ordered Egyptian-born agent Gamal Abdel-Hafiz reinstated.
A senior FBI official in Washington, who spoke only on condition of anonymity, confirmed that Abdel-Hafiz recently received a letter informing him that he would be reinstated. It was unclear when he'll begin.
Charges that led to his firing last May were unrelated to the allegations by the Chicago agent. Instead, they stemmed from a 14-year-old allegation that he had filed a false insurance claim.
Abdel-Hafiz, one of the FBI's few Arabic-speaking agents, could not be reached for comment.
He has sued ABC News, Chicago FBI agent Robert Wright and retired Chicago agent John Vincent, charging they defamed him in a national broadcast in December 2002.
His suit alleges that the broadcast falsely stated that he had refused orders to secretly record fellow Muslims as part of FBI investigations into terrorists, including a 1999 Chicago-based investigation into the fundraising activities of the Palestinian group Hamas.
Abdel-Hafiz and FBI officials in Washington have maintained that his supervisor at the time determined he had already gotten the necessary information from a suspect and conducting a second interview with a hidden recorder would have jeopardized his position.
His lawyer in the defamation lawsuit, Jeffrey Kaitcer, said Abdel-Hafiz was delighted with his reinstatement.
"The whole reason for the investigation and his firing was unnecessary," Kaitcer said in a telephone interview.
Abdel-Hafiz was fired by Robert Jordan, the former chief of the FBI's Office of Professional Responsibility, after the agent's ex-wife alleged he had filed a false insurance claim in 1989 - before he became an agent. Jordan became the focus of congressional ire last year for allegedly targeting an FBI whistleblower and has since been reassigned.
The fraud allegation arose during a repeat of the background investigation conducted before Abdel-Hafiz became an agent. The probes are now repeated automatically every five years because of the Robert Hanssen spy scandal.
Abdel-Hafiz appealed his firing to the FBI's internal Disciplinary Review Board, which sided with him this year, the senior official said.
He will most likely be reassigned to the FBI's Dallas field office, where he was working when he was dismissed, the official said.
Despite Wright's allegations, other FBI agents and supervisors have lauded Abdel-Hafiz for playing a key role in several important terrorism investigations, including the Sept. 11 attacks and the cases involving six men from the Buffalo suburb of Lackawanna, N.Y., who were later convicted of providing material support to al-Qaida.
Officials at the U.S. Embassy in Saudi Arabia also praised Abdel-Hafiz's work while he was detailed there for the bureau and said the agent helped turn around relations with his Saudi counterparts. Those relations had soured during the FBI investigation of the June 25, 1996, bombing of the Khobar Towers military barracks in Saudi Arabia.
The Saga of [muslim] FBI Special Agent Gamal Abdel-Hafiz
2/5/2004
FBI Agent's star dims (More on Muslim agent who refused to tape fellow Muslims)
4/20/2003
FBI’s Saudi Agent Recalled to U.S. (Gamal Abdel-Hafiz, a Muslim, refused FBI REQUESTS)
02/27/2003
This kind of thing is the reason I don't believe we're serious about the "War on (Islamic) Terror"
This PC crap is going to destroy our country.
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