A Muslim chaplain accused of taking classified material from the US prison for terrorist suspects in Cuba has been charged by the military with adultery and storing pornography.
The military released Army Captain James Yee from custody on Tuesday and assigned him to duties at Fort Benning, Georgia, said Raul Duany, a spokesman for the US Southern Command.
Yee will face an Article 32 hearing on Monday -- the military equivalent of a grand jury or preliminary hearing, officials said.
"It's going to be an open hearing at Fort Benning," said Major General Geoffrey Miller, the officer in charge of the mission at Guantanamo who will also preside over the hearing. "These usually last about two weeks."
During his time in Georgia, Yee will be prohibited from having contact with personnel at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Duany said.
Authorities arrested Yee, 35, in September and charged him with disobeying an order for allegedly taking classified material from Guantanamo and improperly transporting it.
The new charges Tuesday included making a false statement, storing pornography on a government computer and having sexual relations outside marriage, which is a punishable offense under military law.
The adultery allegedly occurred with an unspecified woman at Guantanamo and in Orlando, Florida, between July and September this year, and the pornography was on his government-issued computer at the base in eastern Cuba, Duany said.
Yee, who also uses the first name Yousef, will be assigned to the Fort Benning base chaplain, but his exact duties remain to be determined, said Captain Tom Crosson, another spokesman at the US Southern Command.
Yee's lawyer, Eugene Fidell, said he was pleased that his client was released but disappointed by the new charges.
"We're thrilled that Chaplain Yee was released, but on the other hand, the additional charges are the kind of thing that can give military justice a bad name -- especially the adultery charge," Fidell said.
The Uniform Code of Military Justice classifies adultery as a punishable offense, US Southern Command said. No other information was provided on the pornography allegation.
Yee, a Chinese-American who converted to Islam after graduating from West Point, was arrested Sept. 10 in Jacksonville, Florida.
Federal agents said they found the former Lutheran from Springfield, New Jersey, carrying sketches of the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, where he counseled prisoners accused of links to Afghanistan's deposed Taliban regime or the al-Qaeda terror network.
Once a chaplain at Fort Lewis, Washington, Yee was charged by the military on Oct. 10 with disobeying a general order by taking classified material home and transporting it without proper security containers.
When he was arrested, rumors swirled he had been charged with espionage relating to his contact with the detainees in Guantanamo, none of whom have been charged.
Some have been held for nearly two years.



