- The US army has quashed convictions against a Muslim
chaplain initially accused of spying at the US detention camp in Guantanamo
Bay in Cuba.
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- It means Captain James Yee - who spent 76 days in custody
when the spying allegations were first made - now has a clean military
record.
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- Criminal charges against Captain Yee were dropped last
month but he was found guilty of lesser offences.
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- He was said to have committed adultery and stored porn
on his office computer.
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- For this he received a written reprimand.
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- He appealed and General James Hill, commander of US Southern
Command, has now dismissed the convictions and the reprimand.
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- But General Hill said it had been necessary to keep Captain
Yee in custody.
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- "While I believe that Chaplain Yee's misconduct
was wrong, I do not believe, given the extreme notoriety of his case in
the news media, that further stigmatising Chaplain Yee would serve a just
and fair purpose," he said.
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- Security concerns
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- Captain Yee's lawyer described the case against his client
as a "hoax".
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- "It wouldn't have killed them to admit a mistake,"
Eugene Fidell said. "Chaplain Yee spent 76 days in pre-trial confinement
for no good reason."
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- Captain Yee might try to sue the government, he added.
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- Captain Yee was arrested last September as he arrived
at a Florida naval base.
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- In October, he was charged with two counts of failing
to obey orders - specifically, for taking classified material to his home.
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- A month later, he faced fresh charges, including adultery
- a crime under US military justice - and storing pornography on a government
computer.
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- A Chinese-American, Capt Yee converted to Islam while
serving in Saudi Arabia following the 1991 Gulf war.
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- His arrest led to concerns about security at the military
prison, where more than 600 suspected Taleban and al-Qaeda fighters have
been held for over two years.
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- © BBC MMIV http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3627657.stm
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