TROY, N.Y.—Iraqi-born artist Wafaa Bilal is claiming censorship after his Virtual Jihadi video artwork was shut down by officials at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y., the Chicago Tribune reports. The work mimics a video game and features an avatar of Bilal dressed as a suicide bomber, on a mission to shoot American soldiers, penetrate a bunker, and kill President Bush. A player also has the option to carry out a virtual suicide bombing. That aspect of the work has prompted FBI scrutiny, and the institute said it will look into the work's "origin, content, and intent" before it is allowed to go on display again. The institute said it is also concerned about the origins of the work: Virtual Jihadi can be traced back to a 2003 video game, "Quest for Saddam," created by an American game designer and later hacked by an Al Qaeda terrorist group that created its own online version, "The Night of Bush Capturing."

"I personally think it is censorship," Bilal, who is also a faculty member at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, said of his work being taken down. "I think it is being shut down permanently." He added that Virtual Jihadi is not meant to advocate terrorism or violence against Bush, but to be a "platform for conversation" to raise awareness about the reality of war in Iraq.