Source: MSNBC

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/4374015/

On February 25, 2004 MSNBC reported, "Overturning the action of its senior disciplinary officer, the FBI has reinstated a high-profile Muslim agent who had been fired last year amid a swirl of controversy over allegations of conflicting loyalties in the war on terrorism. Gamal Abdel-Hafiz, an Egyptian-born agent who had played a crucial role in some of the bureau’s biggest terrorism cases, was recently notified that a three-member FBI Disciplinary Review Board had overturned his dismissal and 'decided to reinstate you to the rolls of the FBI.' The board acted after concluding that allegations that he had been involved in a 15-year-old case of insurance fraud—and then lied about it to FBI investigators—could not be corroborated. The firing of Abdel-Hafiz last May set off reverberations throughout the ranks of the FBI, raising concerns that it would seriously impede the bureau’s ability to recruit new Muslim and Arab-American agents badly needed to work counterterrorism cases. Abdel-Hafiz, who was one of only about a half dozen Muslims in a force of  11,500 agents, charged that he was 'hit in the back' by fellow agents who  were  distrustful of him because of his Muslim faith and Arab background."