An American Muslim nuclear physicist has sued the US government over revoking his security clearance because of his faith and criticism of the Iraq war, reported The New York Times on Friday, June 27.
“Our contention is that the reason the D.O.E. (Department of Energy) invoked national security here was to relieve themselves of the responsibility of having to tell us what’s going on,” said lawyer Witold Walczak.
Abdel Moniem Ali el-Ganayni, 57, worked for 18 years at the government-financed Bettis laboratory.
But last May, his security clearance was revoked by the Department of Energy, causing him to lose his job.
The D.O.E declined to give a reason for the revocation of the physicist’s security clearance, citing “national security”.
The Egyptian-born physicist migrated to the US in 1980 to get a master’s degree and a doctorate and he was naturalized eight years later.
In the lawsuit, Ganayni says his rights to free speech and religion and to equal protections have been violated.
He asks to have a chance to contest the revocation of his security clearance before an impartial hearing officer.
The Energy Department declined to comment.
“This is a personal security matter as to which the department has no public comment.”
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Ganayni’s clearance was first suspended and he was assigned to a lower-paying job, in October 2007.
He was quizzed by the FBI and D.O.E about his religious beliefs, money he has sent overseas and his criticism of the Iraq war during comments at a local mosque in 2006.
The physicist said he was never asked about any security breaches at his job as a senior scientist at Bettis.
“What I said about the Iraq war, many Americans have said, and many senators,” said Ganayni.
“But when I said this, I became like a traitor. That’s not right.”
The Guardian recently reported that US professors and teachers were facing hard time speaking their minds out and criticizing the Bush administration’s foreign policy with federal anti-terror sheriffs watching and students paid to tape “anti-America” statements.
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