USAF official charged with espionage

The Pentagon's disclosure of the case against Senior Airman Ahmad al-Halabi comes three days after officials said a Muslim chaplain at the base had been arrested. The chaplain, Army Captain Yusef Yee, has not been charged.

The two men knew each other, an Air Force spokesman said, but officials said they didn't know if there had been any conspiracy to breach security at the prison camp.

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The charges against al-Halabi, however, include an allegation that al-Halabi failed to report unauthorised contacts between prisoners and another member of the military. That other military member is not identified.

Al-Halabi, 24, of Detroit, is being held at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, Air Force Major Michael Shavers said Tuesday. 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 traveling 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 is also 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 to the United States which he failed to report as required.