Motive For New Charges Against Muslim Chaplain Questioned

(SEATTLE, WA, 11/25/03) - The Seattle chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Seattle) tonight applauded the release of Capt. James Yee pending trial, but questioned the government's motives in bringing new charges that appear designed to harm his reputation among supporters.

Yee, the former Muslim chaplain in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, was charged Tuesday with adultery and storing pornography on a government computer. He was detained in September and later charged with mishandling classified documents in a case that initially portrayed him as engaging in espionage.

Huda Sobuh, Captain Yee's wife, told CAIR-Seattle: "I believe emphatically that my husband is innocent of all these charges. I stand by him. It is clear to me the U.S. government only wants to destroy his reputation and his family. They will not succeed."

" These new allegations, including as they do serious violations of Islamic moral principles, have the odor of a smear campaign about them," said Ibrahim Mohamed, CAIR-Seattle chairman. "A cynical person might question the government's motivation for bringing these charges after having failed to back up earlier leaks pointing to espionage and support for terrorism."

" To bring adultery into a case that began with public allegations of aiding the enemy is really outrageous, and the type of thing that can give military justice a bad name," said Eugene Fidell, Yee's civilian attorney. Fidell had asked President Bush to release Yee for the Eid ul-Fitr holiday, which began Tuesday in most parts of the Muslim world, marking the end of Ramadan.

CAIR, America's largest Islamic civil liberties group, is headquartered in Washington, D.C., and has 25 regional offices and chapters nationwide and in Canada.