US Drops Spy Charge Against Guantanamo Translator

United States military prosecutors have dropped an espionage charge against a Syrian-American airman accused of carrying messages for detainees at the Guantanamo naval base in Cuba.

Prosecutors agreed to dismiss the charge today at court martial proceedings in California after Airman Ahmad al Halabi agreed to plead guilty to lesser charges.

The Associated Press reports the lesser charges include photographing the prison and later lying about the photos, and taking home a classified document.

Mr. al Halabi was arrested last July. But the Air Force dropped some of the most serious charges against him late last year, including the charge of "aiding an enemy."

He was one of three men accused of security breaches at Guantanamo, where the United States holds detainees, mostly captured in Afghanistan in 2001, with suspected ties to al-Qaida or the Taleban.

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