NEW YORK, Jan 26: The former UN weapons inspector, Scot Ritter, a critic of President Bush’s war against Iraq is expected to face federal government’s probe on a Internet sex case which was closed two years ago.

Acting on a request from local federal prosecutors, state Supreme Court Justice Joseph Teresi has directed that sealed Ritter case files be turned over to the feds, US officials told Daily News — a New York tabloid.

Mr Ritter contends that the case is being reopened to silence his opposition to the war. He has been appearing regularly on US Television stations making a case against war.

Mr Ritter was arrested by police in Colonie, an Albany (New York) suburb, in June 2001 on a misdemeanour charge of endangering an underage girl. The News said that sources familiar with the case said Ritter, now 41, used the Internet handle “onexhibition” as he arranged a meeting with the teen — actually an undercover cop — and proposed that she watch him perform a sex act.

The case was adjourned in contemplation of dismissal, meaning that if he stayed out of trouble for six months, the charges would be erased and the case sealed.