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.  

Former Foreign Service Officer Sentenced on Federal Civil Rights Charges  

WASHINGTON - W. Patrick Syring, a former foreign service officer with the U.S. Department of State, was sentenced today in federal court in Washington, D.C., on federal civil rights charges for threatening employees of the Arab American Institute (AAI) because of their race and national origin. Syring was sentenced by the Honorable Colleen Kollar-Kotelly 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.

On June 12, 2008, Syring, age 50, pleaded guilty to a federal civil rights charge for race- and national origin-based interference with the victims’ federally protected right to employment, and to a second charge for the interstate transmission of threatening communications. Syring admitted that in July 2006 he sent a series of threatening email and voicemail communications to six employees of AAI, a nonprofit organization that promotes Arab-American participation in the U.S. electoral system and public policy issues. Syring also admitted that he intended to intimidate the victims and interfere with their employment because of their race as Arab-Americans and their national origin as Lebanese-Americans.

The indictment to which Syring pleaded guilty charged that he sent four emails and three voicemails to AAI employees from approximately July 17 to 29, 2006. The emails included repeated use of threatening phrases. An additional email condemned AAI for a fatal shooting at the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle in July 2006 that was committed by a lone gunman who had no affiliation with AAI.

A career foreign service officer and a resident of Arlington, Va., Syring retired from the U.S. Department of State in July 2007.

"Threats of violent hate crimes have an impact far greater than the impact on the individual victim," said Grace Chung Becker, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division. "These are crimes against the fundamental ideals on which America was founded."

"There is no room in our society for the intolerance of other races or national origins, particularly by those who hold positions within the government," stated Jeffrey A. Taylor, U.S. Attorney for the Distict of Columbia. "This prosecution reflects our steadfast commitment to address violations of our civil rights laws."

This case was investigated by Special Agents Greg H. Bristol and Jay Greenberg of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Julieanne Himelstein for the District of Washington, D.C., along with Civil Rights Division Deputy Chief Mark Blumberg, Trial Attorney Karen Ruckert, and Special Legal Counsel Barry F. Kowalski, from the Department of Justice.

Prosecuting the perpetrators of bias-motivated crimes is a top priority of the Justice Department. Since 2001, the Civil Rights Division has convicted 166 defendants in 127 cases involving bias-motivated crimes.

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