Guantanamo Chaplain held for US investigation

MIAMI - US military authorities have detained the Muslim Army chaplain who tended to suspected al Qaeda and Taleban prisoners at the US Naval Base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, a military spokesman said on Saturday.

Captain James Yee was taken into custody at the Naval Air Station in Jacksonville, Florida, on September 10 and has been held since then at a Navy brig in South Carolina, a spokesman for the US military's Southern Command, Captain Tom Crosson, said in Miami.

He said he did not know the nature of the investigation but CNN said Yee carried detailed maps of the prison camp in Guantanamo, showing where detainees were held.

"There's an investigation ongoing related to Captain Yee but no charges have been filed yet," Crosson said. "I don't have any specifics on why he was picked up or what he had in his possession."

Yee has been assigned to the task force holding the Guantanamo prisoners since November 2002, and was the only Muslim chaplain assigned to handle the religious needs of the 660 detainees, most of whom were captured in the US-led war in Afghanistan.

Yee was a graduate of the West Point military academy, Crosson said.

Military flights to Guantanamo in eastern Cuba often fly through the navy base in Jacksonville.

Since the United States began holding Afghan war prisoners at Guantanamo in January 2002, there have been no escape attempts by the prisoners, and no attempted incursions into the heavily secured base, Guantanamo officials told Reuters during a recent visit.

- REUTERS