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Former Career Diplomat Sentenced Today for Sending Obscene and Threatening Messages

AAI
Posted on Thursday July 31, 2008

WASHINGTON – July 11, 2008 – Former American career diplomat W. Patrick Syring was sentenced today in federal court in Washington, D.C. On June 12, 2008, Mr. Syring pleaded guilty to a federal civil rights charge for threatening employees of the Arab American Institute (AAI) because of their race and national origin, and to a second charge for the interstate transmission of threatening communications.

Today, Syring was sentenced to two concurrent sentences of 12 months of imprisonment followed by 3 years of post-release supervision, 100 hours of community service and was ordered to pay a $10,000 fine. The Honorable Colleen Kollar-Kotelly presided over the sentencing.

“We are gratified by the decision of Judge Kollar-Kotelly and her strong words of condemnation for Mr. Syring’s actions,” said Dr. Zogby. “And we are deeply appreciative of the efforts made by the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice and the FBI investigators in this case. They were committed to seeing justice done and in the end, it was. Our rights were protected and a clear message was sent hateful and threatening rhetoric has no place in the national discourse. This is an important decision, not only for Arab Americans, but for all Americans.”

For much of the 1990’s, Mr. Syring served as consular/commercial officer at the United States Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon. In July 2006 during that summer’s Israeli-Lebanon war, while still in the employ of the State Department, Syring sent four e-mails to the Arab American Institute and made three phone calls. The messages, both phone and e-mail, were violent, obscene, and of a clearly threatening nature. In one telephone message, he declared, “The only good Lebanese is a dead Lebanese. The only good Arab is a dead Arab.” He went on to say that Dr. Zogby and the AAI “should burn in the fires of hell…. The United States would be safer without you.” Syring targeted Dr. Zogby and five other staff members of the Arab American Institute, and admitted in court that his intention had been to intimidate and interfere with their employment because of their race as Arab-Americans.

About the Arab American Institute

Founded in 1985, the Arab American Institute (AAI) is a nonprofit organization committed to the civic and political empowerment of Americans of Arab descent. AAI provides policy, research and public affairs services to support a broad range of community activities. For more information on AAI, please visit www.aaiusa.org or call 202-429-9210.

Arab American Institute
Media Contact: Christina Zola
Desk (202) 429-9210; cell (202) 494-9859
czola@aaiusa.org