A former “Multicultural Relations” officer at the Ohio Department of Homeland Security (OHS), who was terminated for falsifying his background and for lying about being fired from an earlier teaching position at a community college for improper sexual relations with a female student, filed a notice today in Ohio state court dismissing his “defamation” lawsuit filed against several national security experts. In the lawsuit, Omar Alomari claimed that counter-terrorism experts Stephen Coughlin, John Guandolo, Patrick Poole, and Todd Sheets had defamed him by exposing his role as a former high-ranking official in the Jordanian government and his ties to terrorist organizations.  The American Freedom Law Center (AFLC) represents the counter-terrorism experts in this litigation.
Alomari, a Muslim who emigrated from Jordan in 1978, claimed that the experts cast him in a “false light” by publishing false statements about him and, as a result of these statements, the OHS fired him. Just recently, however, a federal court determined that the OHS terminated Alomari because he lied about his prior relationships to undisclosed organizations on his OHS application for employment, and he also lied about the fact that he lost his teaching position at Columbus State Community College as a result of an inappropriate sexual relationship with one of his female students.
In Alomari’s lawsuit, he alleged that counter-terrorism experts Stephen Coughlin, John Guandolo, and Todd Sheets had defamed him during counter-terrorism workshops and training sessions conducted for the Columbus, Ohio, police department by exposing Alomari’s nefarious ties to terrorists. Alomari also alleged that Patrick Poole had published articles linking him to terrorists.
Alomari’s notice of dismissal came in response to a letter sent on behalf of the experts by AFLC Co-Founder and Senior Counsel David Yerushalmi. In his letter, Yerushalmi accused Alomari and his attorney of filing meritless and frivolous claims, and he gave them an ultimatum: either dismiss the frivolous claims by today or face a motion for sanctions.  Alomari chose the former, and his dismissal is with prejudice, ending this long-running litigation.
Yerushalmi commented:
“Alomari filed his original lawsuit in April 2013. After we filed a motion to dismiss, rather than respond to our motion and defend his lawsuit, Alomari voluntarily dismissed his complaint without prejudice. Under Ohio’s rules, this meant he could refile the lawsuit within a year. Not surprisingly, he waited almost a year to the day and refiled essentially the same complaint. This is classic Muslim Brotherhood lawfare doctrine: use and abuse the legal system to frighten anyone who might stand up to the Muslim Brotherhood and its ongoing effort to insinuate operatives into sensitive government positions.”
Robert Muise, also Co-Founder and Senior Counsel of AFLC, noted that this second voluntary dismissal is, by the court’s rules, with prejudice and finally brings this litigation to an end, remarking:
“AFLC is the only public-interest law firm that focuses on representing counter-terrorism experts and others pro bono who are threatened with litigation by the many Muslim Brotherhood front groups operating in this country under the guise of Muslim civic organizations. AFLC has demonstrated time and again that when you confront Islamist lawfare with better and even more aggressive lawyering, the truth and the Constitution win out. We want the counter-terrorism experts outside the government and those whistleblowers working for the government to know that AFLC is ready, willing, and able to defend their legal rights. The time has come for patriotic Americans to stand up against the jihadist threat abroad and right here at home.”
Notice of Dismissal