WASHINGTON, July 29: A radio station in the US capital suspended a talk show host on Friday for repeatedly saying that “Islam is a terrorist organization.” The WMAL-AM radio announced that host Michael Graham will remain suspended “without pay.”

A Washington-based Muslim civil rights group, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, welcomed the decision but demanded that Mr Graham be fired for his Islamophobic remarks and for his refusal to apologize for those comments.

Earlier this week, CAIR initiated a campaign against WMAL and the station’s advertisers after receiving complaints from Muslim listeners who heard Mr Graham state: 1. “Islam is a terrorist organization.” 2. “Islam is at war with America.” 3. “The problem is not extremism. The problem is Islam.” 4. “We are at war with a terrorist organization named Islam.”

Other listeners said that Mr Graham even encouraged a public “backlash” against Muslims. When asked to clarify his position, Mr Graham said he meant a backlash of social pressure, not violent attack on Muslims.

In response to his suspension, the Washington Post quoted Graham as saying, “I will not recant.” When first contacted by CAIR, WMAL stood behind Mr Graham, but changed its position after hundreds of people responded to the group’s action alerts by contacting the station and its sponsors.

In a statement, WMAL President and General Manager Chris Berry said that Mr Graham would be suspended for statements that “crossed the line.”