Camp Delta translator faces spy charges
The Pentagon’s disclosure of the case against Senior Airman Ahmad al-Halabi comes three days after officials said a Muslim chaplain at the Cuban base had been arrested. The chaplain, Army Capt Yusef Yee, has not been charged.
The two men knew each other, an Air Force spokesman said, but officials said they did not know if there had been any conspiracy to breach security at the prison camp.
The charges against al-Halabi, however, include an allegation that he failed to report unauthorised contacts between the prisoners held in Camp Delta and another member of the military. That other military member is not identified.
Al-Halabi, 24, of Detroit, was being held at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, Air Force Maj Michael Shavers said last night. The most serious charges against him, espionage and aiding the enemy, could carry the death penalty.
Al-Halabi worked for nine months as an Arabic language translator at Guantanamo Bay, a job that ended shortly before his July 23 arrest as he arrived in Jacksonville, Florida, on a flight from the prison camp.
When he was arrested, al-Halabi was carrying two handwritten notes from detainees that al-Halabi intended to turn over to someone travelling to Syria, the charging documents say. He was also carrying his personal laptop computer, which contained classified information about detainees and 180 messages from detainees al-Halabi intended to send to Syria or Qatar, the documents allege.
Al-Halabi also is accused of taking pictures of the prison camp and having unauthorised contact with the inmates, including giving them baklava desserts. He also is alleged to have had contacts with the Syrian Embassy in the United States which he failed to report as required.
Al-Halabi is of Syrian descent. Military officials said they were unsure of al-Halabi’s citizenship.
He is charged with eight counts related to espionage, three counts of aiding the enemy, 11 counts of disobeying a lawful order, nine counts of making a false official statement and one count of bank fraud.
Pentagon officials said a broader investigation into possible security breaches at Guantanamo Bay was continuing.
About 660 suspected al-Qaida or Taliban members are imprisoned at the US Navy base. American officials are interrogating them for information on the terrorist network.
The military has classified many details about the prison camp and the detainees and has not identified any of the men being held there.
Espionage and aiding the enemy were military charges that can carry the death penalty, said Eugene Fidell, a civilian lawyer in Washington and president of the National Institute of Military Justice. The commanding general in charge of al-Halabi’s case would have to decide whether military prosecutors could seek the death penalty in this case, Fidell said. The last military execution was in 1961.
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