The Chicago chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations filed a discrimination lawsuit against the Illinois State Police over the abrupt termination of a local Muslim cleric who served as a chaplain on the force, according to the Chicago Tribune.
CAIR-Chicago staff attorney Kevin Vodak, serving as Sheikh Kifah Mustapha's Illinois employment lawyer, said the reasons given for rescinding his employment offer simply didn't make any sense:
"There was no specific reason given other than that he failed the background check. ... All of the other chaplains that went through the same program were accepted."
He would have been the first imam in Illinois appointed to the police chaplain post. His appointment was rescinded soon after questions arose about his connections to a charity with ties to Hamas, a militant Palestinian group.
The revelations became public after Steve Emerson, executive director of the Investigative Project on Terrorism, called Sheikh Kifah Mustapha an "unindicted co-conspirator" in the federal case against the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development:
"He is on record raising money for terrorists. We have a significant problem of radicalization developing in America. It makes no sense to place someone with a documented record of jihad support in a consultative position."
However, Kevin Vodak insists that his client believed the money he helped raise went solely to American Muslim causes here in the US. He believes his client was singled-out, Joseph McCarthy-style, simply through association.
Illinois State Police spokesman Master Sgt. Isaiah D. Vega said they have no intention to reinstate his employment.
The lawsuit claims discrimination on the basis of race, religion and national origin. Anyone treated differently by their employer on the basis of those or other protected characteristics (i.e. gender, age) may want to call a Chicago employment lawyer to review their legal options.
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24 Hour Fitness Hit with Discrimination Suit (FindLaw's Law & Daily Life Blog)
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