- WASHINGTON -- The Pentagon
admitted the total collapse of its espionage case against a Muslim army
chaplain at Guantanamo Bay yesterday, saying it had dropped all criminal
charges against Captain James Yee.
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- Under the deal announced by the Pentagon, Captain Yee
was cleared of charges of mishandling classified documents, and will be
allowed to return to his previous duty station at Fort Lewis in Washington
State.
-
- Captain Yee, 34, a convert to Islam, was a graduate of
the prestigious West Point military academy. His arrest last year raised
doubts within the army about infiltration within its ranks.
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- The officer was arrested and imprisoned in a naval brig
last September on espionage and related charges. At the time, the military
said Captain Yee possessed diagrams of the base and lists of detainees,
and suggested he might be trying to assist in an escape attempt.
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- The officer, who was in charge of overseeing Muslim dietary
requirements at Guantanamo, was also charged with failing to obey an order,
making a false official statement, adultery and storing pornographic images
on a government computer.
-
- Other details of the settlement were not immediately
available.
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- Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited
2004
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- http://www.guardian.co.uk/guantanamo/story/0,13743,1174144,00.html
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