Guantanamo probe intensifies
Fears of a widespread security breach at Guantanamo Bay continue to grow, reports Jaideep Mukerji
Yet another arrest has been made in connection with a possible security breach at the Camp Delta detention facility in Guantanamo Bay.
Agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation arrested Guantanamo Bay translator Ahmed Mehalba shortly after he landed at Logan International Airport in Boston. Mehalba, a naturalised United States citizen of Egyptian decent, was stopped after officials found documents they believed contained classified information relating to Guantanamo. Mehalba allegedly denied any knowledge of the documents and was then subsequently arrested on charges of on making false statements to officials. Mehalba's arrest brings the total number of suspects being held on suspicion of breaching security at Camp Delta to three.
Senior Airman Ahmed Al-Halabi, an Arabic translator with the United States Armed Forces, was the first to be detained four weeks ago as he got off a plane landing at a US naval base in Jacksonville, Florida. On 23 September, US officials formally charged Al-Halabi, a native of Syria, with 32 crimes ranging from the banal -- giving baklava to prisoners without permission -- to far more serious crimes including taking unauthorised pictures of the base, e-mailing detainees' names, countries of origins, addresses, and internment serial numbers "to unauthorised person or persons whom he, the accused, knew to be the enemy", according to a US Department of Defence charge sheet.
Al-Halabi, speaking through one of his lawyers, Air Force Major James Key III, has denied the charges against him. In a statement to reporters, Major Key described his client as a "patriotic American" and "a star performer for the Air Force", who won his squadron's Outstanding Airman of the Year Award in 2001.
A second suspect in the investigation, US Army Chaplin Youssef Yee, was arrested on 10 September on suspicions of espionage. Formal charges are still pending for the 35-year-old Muslim chaplin, who was responsible for counselling the detainees being held at Camp Delta. At the time of his arrest Yee had classified documents that "a chaplain shouldn't have", according to a US Army official who wished to remain anonymous. Yee's lawyers have so far declined to comment on the case.
Pentagon officials have also disclosed that a fourth suspect, a member of the US Navy, is also under investigation. The unidentified serviceman is currently only under investigation and has not been arrested.
If there is in fact an organised breach of security at Guantanamo it would be a serious blow for the United States. Sergeant Major John VanNatta, Camp Delta's prison warden, had previously told reporters that it was the most secure facility of its kind in the world. Security at Camp Delta is indeed impressive: there are an estimated four guards for every one prisoner, and officers working there, in addition to being closely monitored while at the camp, are under strict orders not to talk about details of the camp even after their tour of duty is over.
There are an estimated 660 detainees being held at Camp Delta, most of whom were captured during the war in Afghanistan and whom the US suspects of having links to Al- Qa'eda. Some prisoners have been held at the camp now for almost two years without any charges being laid against them. Despite widespread criticism of the continued detention of the prisoners, the US remains unmoved and insists that the detention will continue until "[The US] feel[s] that there are no effective global terrorist networks functioning in the world", according to US Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld.
The fact that Camp Delta's tight security may have been breached is a cause for concern to many in the US. Democratic Senator Charles Schumer said that the arrests show how "[security measures] are incredibly lax at some of our supposedly most secure military facilities." As if to confirm his statement, Pentagon officials have admitted that Al-Halabi was in fact the subject of an investigation prior to his posting at Guantanamo. When asked how the subject of a Pentagon investigation could end up being assigned to such a high security installation as Camp Delta, Captain Tom Crosson, a spokesman for the US Army told reporters "I don't have an answer for you on that."
Further questions about security at the detention facility were raised by a 25 September Los Angeles Times article that quoted an unnamed former Guantanamo Bay translator as saying "Any one of us could walk out of [Camp Delta] with security documents," adding that access to documents such as flight schedules and cell configurations were widely available. William Tierney, another former translator told the paper that "When I was there, they didn't check your pockets and there was no metal detector."
In light of the security breaches, Senator Schumer has asked the Pentagon for an investigation into security at Guantanamo saying that a "top-to-bottom review of security at Guantanamo" was needed.
Motives as to why the men may have been spying remain unclear. Earlier speculation that Al-Halabi and Yee might have been spying for the Syrian government may have been premature. A Pentagon official who wished to remain anonymous told US publication Newsweek that Pentagon officials were now turning their focus to suspected terrorist organisations working out of Syria, and not the Syrian government itself. The statements however seem at odds with senior Bush administration officials; National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice told reporters on Sunday that the US was still "looking into" a possible Syrian government connection.
Syrian Information Minister Ahmed Al- Hassan flatly denied any link between the two men and Syria, calling such accusations "baseless and illogical".
What happens next for the suspects remains unclear. Mehalba was working as a civilian translator at Camp Delta and as such is not subject to US military law. He will instead likely be tried under US federal law, though officials are still studying the case in order to decide how best to proceed. Al-Halabi and Yee are subject to US military law and if found guilty of espionage and/or aiding the enemy by a military court martial, both men could face execution.
The last time a US soldier was executed in the United States Army was in 1961 when Private John A Bennett was hanged after being found guilty by military tribunal of the rape and attempted murder of an 11-year-old girl, according to the Death Penalty Information Centre in Washington DC.
Al-Amoudi under arrest
PROMINENT American Muslim activist Abduraham Al-Amoudi was arrested on Sunday by US officials in Virginia. The 51 year-old Al-Amoudi was charged with violating the International Emergency Powers Act, an act that effectively forbids US citizens from visiting Libya without special authorisation.
Al-Amoudi had made several visits to Libya where US officials allege he "received, transferred and otherwise dealt in funds from the Libyan Permanent Mission at the UN". Receiving funds from the Libyan government is also a violation of one of the clauses of the Emergency Powers Act.
Al-Amoudi is founder and president of the American Muslim Foundation, an organisation devoted to encouraging Muslims to become more active in US politics. The AMF also helps certify US Army Muslim Chaplains, one of whom, Yousef Yee, is currently under arrest on suspicion of breaching security at Guantanamo Bay.
