Suit Could Stifle Terror Fight

One of Mayor Bloomberg's appointees to the city's human rights commission is a driving force behind a lawsuit targeting ordinary citizens who reported what they felt was suspicious activity by a group of imams on a flight last fall.

Since the lawsuit was filed last month in Minneapolis, it has prompted criticism by Republican lawmakers in Washington, D.C., who have expressed concern that the suit's success could dampen citizen vigilance against hijackers and other terrorists.

The possibility that citizens who report anonymously what they perceive to be suspicious behavior, referred to in lawsuits as John Does, may not be entitled to anonymity, much less immunity from lawsuits, has even led to proposed legislation in the past month.

The suit was filed on behalf of six imams. They sued US Airways for removing them from a flight and are seeking the names of any passengers who might have reported their suspicions about the imams.

A New York civil rights attorney, Omar Mohammedi, whose appointment by Mayor Bloomberg to the city's Commission on Human Rights generated controversy in 2002, is representing the group of imams.

The criticism of Mr. Mohammedi came from several City Council members and Jewish leaders due to his affiliation with the local chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations. The organization has been accused of sympathizing with terrorist groups in the Middle East, and the Web site of the New York chapter has floated conspiracy theories about the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. When he was appointed, Mr. Mohammedi was general counsel for the local chapter of CAIR. He is now the chapter's president.

At the time, a spokesman for Mr. Bloomberg, Ed Skyler, dismissed critics of the move, many of whom were elected officials, as "extremists."
A spokeswoman for the commission, Betsy Herzog, said in a statement yesterday: "Mr. Mohammedi is entitled to work on behalf of his clients in Minneapolis as it does not conflict with the work of the Commission."

A spokeswoman for the mayor's office declined to comment further, saying that Ms. Herzog's statement spoke for the Bloomberg administration.

Since his appointment, Mr. Mohammedi has kept a relatively low profile on the human rights commission, a fellow commissioner said.
The commissioner, William Malpica, told The New York Sun that Mr. Mohammedi had not "circulated anything" among the other commissioners about his discrimination suit.

A revised legal complaint Mr. Mohammedi filed two weeks ago against USAirways lists as defendants all passengers who meant to discriminate against the imams by reporting allegedly suspicious activity. An earlier version of the complaint included as defendants any passenger who filed a report, regardless of intentions.

Regarding his decision to include passengers in the suit, Mr. Mohammedi told the Washington Times: "The imams have the right to face their accusers if they purposely made false reports with the intent to discriminate against the imams."

The imams attracted attention by praying loudly before boarding the plane and by moving between seats, according to news reports. The legal complaint denies allegations that the imams had spoken in support of Saddam Hussein. The flight was between Minneapolis and Phoenix, Ariz.

In the wake of the suit, Rep. Steve Pearce, a Republican of New Mexico, called for legislation that would protect from lawsuits anyone who reports, in good faith, suspicious behavior to law enforcement or security personnel. The bill is called the Protecting Americans Fighting Terrorism Act.

A congressman of Long Island, Peter King, introduced a similar measure as an amendment to a transportation-security bill that would be retroactive and apply to the flight resulting in the Minneapolis suit.

Mr. Mohammedi did not return two telephone calls left for comment. In private practice, he specializes in employment discrimination and real estate law. Before establishing his own firm, housed in the Woolworth Building, Mr. Mohammedi worked for Shearman & Sterling and Anderson Kill & Olick, according to his firm's Web site.

In the past, he has sued several public employers. Last fall, in a suit filed in federal court in Brooklyn on behalf of a former Muslim correctional officer, he sued the Justice Department, claiming that the officer endured abuse from both colleagues and inmates following the September 11 attacks.