A Muslim analyst for the New York City Police Department Intelligence Division can push forward with his lawsuit against a former CIA official who is accused of denigrating Islam in e-mails sent around the police department.

A federal judge, Barbara Jones of U.S. District Court in Manhattan, declined to dismiss the employment discrimination lawsuit yesterday.

The plaintiff, whom court papers do not identify by name, works for the city's Department of Corrections after the police department took him off counterterrorism work, the plaintiff's attorney, Ilann Maazel, said.

The former CIA official, Bruce Tefft, worked for a consulting firm that assisted the police department's Intelligence Division. Mr. Tefft would send news clippings from around the world to various members of the department. The suit claims that Mr. Tefft would add his own comments to them. Some comments advocated burning the Koran or questioned whether a "good Muslim" could also be a "good American," according to the suit. [Link]