Charleston, S.C.
A Muslim Army chaplain who ministered to suspected terrorists at the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, detention center has been arrested on suspicion of aiding the enemy, military authorities said this week. Capt. James Yee, 35, has not been charged but is being held in the Charleston Navy brig pending an investigation. Yee, who once spent four years in Syria, was under surveillance when he returned to the U.S. from the Guantanamo Navy base on leave two weeks ago. A military official said Yee arrived carrying documents “a chaplain shouldn’t have,” including diagrams of the prison and a list of suspected terrorists and Taliban fighters being held there. Officials detained him, worried that he would give the material to terrorists. Then an Air Force enlisted man, Ahmad I. al-Halabi, who had translated for some of the 660 prisoners, was also arrested on espionage charges. It was unclear whether his case was linked to Yee’s.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Russia removes the Taliban's terrorist designation as their connections growThe Explainer Russia had designated the Taliban as a terrorist group over 20 years ago
-
The state of Britain's Armed ForcesThe Explainer Geopolitical unrest and the unreliability of the Trump administration have led to a frantic re-evaluation of the UK's military capabilities
-
Anti-anxiety drug has a not-too-surprising effect on fishUnder the radar The fish act bolder and riskier
