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US military drops charges against `spying' chaplain

Citing national security concerns, the US Army dropped all charges against a Muslim chaplain accused of mishandling classified documents at the US Navy base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where suspected terrorists are held.

Captain James Yee will be allowed to return to his previous duty station at Fort Lewis, near Tacoma, Washington, the US Southern Command, which oversees the detention center in Cuba, said on Friday.

"Chaplain Yee has won," his attorney, Eugene Fidell of Washington, said in a statement late Friday. "The army's dismissal of the classified information charges against him represents a long overdue vindication."

In dismissing the charges, Major General Geoffrey Miller, commander of Joint Task Force Guantanamo, which operates the detention center, cited "national security concerns that would arise from the release of the evidence" if the case proceeded.

"In the grand scheme of things, and in the interest of national security, General Miller felt like the charges needed to be dropped," said Lieutenant Colonel Bill Costello, a Southcom spokesman. "It seemed to be the prudent way to proceed."

Yee spent 76 days in custody after the military initially linked him to a possible espionage ring at the base in Cuba. But the government failed to build a capital espionage case against him. Prosecutors have not disclosed much about their case.

Some Asian-American activists and Yee supporters have accused the government of racial and religious profiling in Yee's case.

The army charged Yee last September with mishandling classified material, failing to obey an order, making a false official statement, adultery and conduct unbecoming an officer for allegedly downloading pornography on his government laptop.

Fidell rejected the notion that security concerns played a role in the dismissal of charges. He said Yee, who was in the Washington area on Friday, was entitled to an apology.

Miller said Yee, a 35-year-old Chinese-American, will be offered nonjudicial punishment for allegations of adultery and pornography.
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