Prison chaplain suspended for accusing White House of terrorism

The head chaplain for the New York’s jails has been suspended while the city investigates incendiary statements he allegedly made last year, including a comment that the “greatest terrorists in the world occupy the White House".

The New York Post reported the remarks were captured on an audiotape last April by the Investigative Project, a counterterrorism group, as the chaplain, Umar Abdul-Jalil, addressed a conference sponsored by the Muslim Students Association in Tucson, Arizona.

In the speech, Abdul-Jalil also allegedly said that Muslims jailed after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks were “tortured” in the Manhattan Correctional Centre.

Abdul-Jalil, a prominent imam from the Harlem neighbourhood of Manhattan, was put on paid administrative leave yesterday while officials review the remarks.

“We’ll take a look at what he said and what the laws are in terms of what he is allowed to say. He is a civil service employee, and we can’t prejudge, but we are going to look at it this afternoon,” Mayor Michael Bloomberg said.