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For Immediate Release
September 14, 2006
NEWARK, N.J. -- The American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey and the Seton Hall Law School Center for Social Justice today filed an employment discrimination lawsuit on behalf of Dr. Wagih H. Makky, a world-renowned aviation security expert and engineer suspended from the Transportation Security Administration on account of his Arab and Muslim heritage.
"Suspending one of the government's most talented security engineers just because he's an Arab and a Muslim compromises our country's security as well as its values," said Seton Hall Law School Center for Social Justice Professor Baher Azmy, who is representing Dr. Makky in cooperation with the ACLU-NJ. "After September 11, we cannot allow petty prejudice to prevent one of our most talented citizens from doing his job to keep our airlines safe."
Dr. Makky was suspended from his job on the day the United States invaded Iraq, for reasons that have always been kept secret from him.
Following the bombing of the Pan Am airliner over Lockerbie, Scotland, Dr. Makky was specifically tapped by the U.S. government to help create the program within the Federal Aviation Administration responsible for developing machines to detect and prevent explosives from being brought aboard various modes of transportation, particularly commercial airplanes and passenger trains. He is of undisputed expertise and renown in this area.
Even before he was finally suspended, Dr. Makky faced persistent prejudice at work. One supervisor told him that it had been a mistake to hire an Arab; another opined to him that "Muslims have no brains." In 2002, when a new supervisor took over Dr. Makky's division, he wanted to know just one thing about Dr. Makky: his national origin.
The reasons for his suspension have never been revealed to Dr. Makky.
Instead, a classified FBI file that was kept in the private safe of his supervisor and that supposedly formed the basis for his determination has been withheld from Dr. Makky during administrative proceedings initiated by his lawyers to uncover it.
"Dr. Makky has devoted his career as an aviation safety engineer to protecting the American people from terrorist attacks," Professor Azmy said. "America should operate with transparency and fairness, not reactionary prejudice, when dealing with life-long civil servants."
Born in Egypt, Dr. Makky came to this country nearly 30 years ago. He received his Ph.D., became an American citizen and held several prestigious research positions before beginning his career in government.
Today's lawsuit, filed in federal court in Newark, raises employment discrimination and civil service protection claims for back wages, as well as Freedom of Information Act claims in order to allow Dr. Makky to see the classified file supposedly containing the reasons for his suspension that have been withheld from him.
In addition to Professor Azmy, attorneys on the case include Scott Michelman, also of the Seton Hall Law School Center for Social Justice, and Edward Barocas, Legal Director of the ACLU-NJ, and Arthur B. Spitzer, Legal Director of the ACLU National Capital Area.
The case is captioned Wagih Makky v. Michael Chertoff, et al. (86k PDF)
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