Imam Umar Abdul-Jalil, executive director of ministerial services for the city's Department of Correction, was suspended Thursday for saying, while speaking at a conference in Arizona last April, that Muslims were being tortured in city jails and that "the greatest terrorists in the world occupy the White House."

Abdul-Jamlil has been put on paid leave while the remarks are being investigated. Meanwhile his lawyer Norman Siegel points out that Abdul-Jamil has a well documented right as a public employee to speak off the job "on issues of public concern."

"I'm confident once all thee facts are analyzed that the city and the mayor will do the right thing." We tend to agree with Siegel on this one.

But still, our first thought when we heard about this was of that FDNY chaplain who was forced to resign for doubting the 9/11 hijackers guilt last October.

Photo by Jeff Day for the New York Post.