US Guantanamo chaplain found guilty of adultery

4.00pm

ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA - A US general on Monday found a Muslim Army chaplain who ministered to terrorism suspects at Guantanamo Bay guilty of committing adultery and storing pornographic images on a government computer.

Army Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller, at the end of an hour-long administrative hearing in Arlington, Virginia, issued a reprimand against Capt. James Yee, but the general's verdict did not represent a criminal conviction.

In fact, the Army on Friday dropped all criminal charges against the 36-year-old West Point graduate, abandoning an espionage case that started with his arrest last September and at one time included accusations in court documents of spying, mutiny, sedition, aiding the enemy and espionage.

Miller commands the task force overseeing the prison at the US naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where the United States holds roughly 610 foreign terrorism suspects. Yee worked with prisoners there for 10 months.

Yee's civilian lawyer, Eugene Fidell, said he plans to appeal Miller's decision to Army Gen. James Hill, head of Miami-based US Southern Command, responsible for Guantanamo Bay operations.

"This officer is the victim of an incredible drive-by act of legal violence," Fidell told reporters, referring to Yee, who worked at Guantanamo for 10 months.

"General Miller perhaps was too close to this entire matter. After all, he was the fellow in charge at Guantanamo Bay. And perhaps somebody with more distance would be able to bring a fresh look to the matter," Fidell said.

In brief remarks to reporters, Yee said "of course I'm disappointed in the outcome," but he expressed thanks to his supporters "here and abroad."

In dropping all six criminal counts against Yee -- including mishandling of classified information and the lesser adultery and pornography charges -- the Army said it could not proceed with charges due to "national security concerns that would arise from the release of the evidence" against Yee.

Lt. Col. Bill Costello, a spokesman for Southern Command, said the Army decided to seek punishment against Yee through an administrative hearing on adultery and pornography allegations because such a case does not "require the introduction of evidence that would have compromised national security."

Fidell renewed his demand that the US military apologise to Yee for making "allegations that have tarnished this individual's reputation irreparably."

Miller considered evidence on whether Yee had an extramarital sexual affair with a female officer at Guantanamo and stored pornographic images on a government computer.

Fidell also objected during the hearing, held in a cramped conference room, to the fact that Army authorities gave him only three days' notice of the hearing and provided him the evidence against his client just 20 minutes before the hearing started.

During a hearing in December, military prosecutors produced witnesses including Lt. Karyn Wallace, who testified that she and the married chaplain had a sexual affair.

Yee did not speak in his own defence during the so-called Article 15 hearing, reserved for minor offences in the military which do not involve criminal charges. Miller also had the option to subject Yee to confinement to quarters for 30 days or restricted movement for 60 days, and forfeiture of half his pay for two months. He opted to impose only a written reprimand that goes into Yee's permanent military record.

Yee was arrested last September in Florida as he returned from Guantanamo. He spent 76 days in a Navy brig but the Army failed to follow through with formal espionage-related charges.

- REUTERS