Airman arraigned in spying case

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The Syrian-born Arabic translator accused of trying to spy on the Guantanamo Bay prison was arraigned before a military judge in California yesterday.

Air Force Senior Airman Ahmad I. al-Halabi is accused of attempting to deliver more than 180 written messages from suspected terrorists being detained at U.S. Naval Base Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to an unidentified citizen of Syria. He faces life in prison if convicted.

In addition to attempted espionage, a military judge presiding over the case yesterday read 15 other counts against Airman al-Halabi, including disobeying orders, mishandling classified information and lying.

Air Force officials said the judge set a Feb. 25 deadline for military prosecutors to develop key details in their case against Airman al-Halabi, who is being held in an Air Force confinement facility at Vandenberg Air Force Base. The base is located near Los Angeles.

The Air Force has dropped 13 of the initial counts against Airman al-Halabi, including one charge of "aiding the enemy," which would have carried the death penalty in the court-martial to be conducted at Travis Air Force Base, located about 50 miles north of San Francisco.

Airman Al-Halabi has said he is not guilty, although he did not enter a plea during yesterday's arraignment. A plea is not required until after pretrial motions are resolved.

Moving from Syria to the United States as a teen, Airman al-Halabi, 24, joined the military in 2000 and later gained citizenship. He was taken into custody in July after working about nine months at Guantanamo. Authorities have said he was going on scheduled leave and planned to travel to Syria to marry his fiancee.

In a telephone interview yesterday, Airman al-Halabi's civilian lawyer, Donald G. Rehkopf Jr., said his client is innocent.

"They're claiming that the names of all the detainees down there are classified," he said. "You can spend 15 minutes on an Internet search and come up with 40 or 50 names. To say that the names are classified is crazy."

Judge Col. Barbara Brand also set a Feb. 25 deadline for the Air Force to process an application by Mr. Rehkopf to access classified evidence in the case.

Airman Al-Halabi was the first of four individuals arrested as part of an investigation into potential breaches of security at Guantanamo Bay.

Army Capt. James "Yousef" Yee, who worked as a Muslim chaplain there, has pleaded not guilty to charges of mishandling classified information, disobeying orders, storing pornography on a government computer and adultery.

He has not been charged with espionage.

Ahmed F. Mehalba, a civilian translator who worked at Guantanamo and is being tried in a criminal court in Massachusetts, has pleaded not guilty to a charge of illegally possessing classified information. He also has not been charged with espionage.

Army Reserve Col. Jack Farr, who was on a six-month assignment as an intelligence officer at Guantanamo, was charged Nov. 29 with lying to investigators and transporting secret documents without proper containers.

Earlier in November, U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Geoffrey D. Miller, who is in charge of the Guantanamo prison, dismissed the notion that charges leveled against some who worked closely with the detainees suggested the presence of an organized group of spies.