Update: Democrats Demand Official Investigation of Yee Case

April 23, 2004

Source: Reuters

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=4927425

On April 23, 2004 Reuters reported, "Two Democratic members of the Senate Armed Services Committee called on Friday for the Pentagon to conduct an investigation into its treatment of a Muslim Army chaplain who was suspected of spying, detained for months and then quietly released. Sens. Carl Levin of Michigan, senior Democrat on the committee, and Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts said the manner in which Capt. James Yee was detained and prosecuted 'raises serious questions about the fair and effective administration of military justice.' They urged Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld in a letter "to give this issue your immediate attention." The military initially held Lee, 36, on suspicion of espionage at the Guantanamo Bay detention center in Cuba, where he was a Muslim chaplain ministering to terror suspects. He was arrested last September and placed in solitary confinement for 76 days. When the military finally brought charges, Yee was accused only of 'mishandling classified documents,' not espionage. Then, earlier this year, that charge and all other criminal counts against Yee were dropped and he was released."