Former US diplomat pleads not guilty over anti-Arab slurs

0 Comments | AFP, August, 2007

WASHINGTON (AFP) — A retired US diplomat who served in the Middle East has pleaded not guilty to two charges of making threats against Lebanese and Arabs, sources close to the case said Thursday.

Patrick Syring was indicted on August 15 for willful intimidation and making threats by allegedly delivering derogatory voicemail messages and emails to the Arab American Institute (AAI) in Washington last year.

Syring, who according to US media reports had served 20 years in the foreign service including a 1994 stint in Lebanon, entered his plea on Thursday after a judge read him the two-count indictment, the AAI said.

In a series of voicemails and emails made during the war in Lebanon last year, Syring uses profane language about Arabs while praising the Israeli...