WASHINGTON, Oct. 2, 2008 ... The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) praised the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Justice for its successful prosecution of Christopher Szaz on federal civil rights charges for threatening employees of the National Council of La Raza (NCLR) and the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) because of their race and national origin.

"The case sends a very clear message that people who commit hate crimes will be prosecuted, regardless of whether they burn a cross, vandalize a synagogue, or threaten someone over e-mail," said David C. Friedman, ADL Washington, DC Regional Director. "Your crime may have been committed in cyberspace, but you will spend jail time in a very real space built of bricks and mortar."

ADL would like to recognize Special Agent Greg Bristol of the District of Columbia Field Office of the FBI, Assistant U.S. Attorneys Frank Bradsher and Denise Walker of the Eastern District of North Carolina, and the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division Trial Attorney Cyra O'Daniel, for their dedication in prosecuting the perpetrators of bias-motivated crimes.

The Anti-Defamation League, founded in 1913, is the world's leading organization fighting anti-Semitism through programs and services that counteract hatred, prejudice and bigotry.