Ahmed Fathy Mehalba was a DOD civilian translator/ interrogator who was convicted of lying to government agents and removing classified documents from the Guantanamo Bay

Guantanamo Bay detainment camp

The Guantanamo Bay detention camp is a detainment and interrogation facility of the United States located within Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba. The facility was established in 2002 by the Bush Administration to hold detainees from the war in Afghanistan and later Iraq...

 detention facility.

Childhood and emigration to United States

Born in Egypt

Egypt

Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...

, Mehalba emigrated to the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 and became a naturalized citizen.
Mehalba received a medical discharge from the Army in May 2001 and was later hired a San Diego defense contractor

Defense contractor

A defense contractor is a business organization or individual that provides products or services to a military department of a government. Products typically include military aircraft, ships, vehicles, weaponry, and electronic systems...

, Titan Corporation, to be an Arabic

Arabic language

Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...

-English

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

 translator at Guantanamo Bay.

Arrest at Logan Airport

In 2003, Mehalba was assigned as a civilian interpreter/ interrogator at Guantanamo. He was arrested on September 29, 2003, at Boston

Boston

Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...

 Logan Airport. Mehalba had flown into Logan through Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 from Cairo, Egypt. On routine admission through customs, Mehalba presented a US passport and a US military identification card. When asked about some computer CDs, he said that they contained only music and videos he had made while in Egypt. One CD was labeled secret. Mehalba told inspectors that he did not have any official US government documents.

Charges against Mehelba

Mehelba was one of four people accused of security breaches at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility. The others were Air Force enlisted Senior Airman Ahmad Al Halabi

Ahmad Al Halabi

Ahmad Al Halabi is an American Muslim Airman who served in the U.S. Air Force. He was assigned an interpreter at the military detainment camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Ahmad was accused and detained based on espionage related charges. All espionage charges were later dismissed...

, Army

United States Army

The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...

 Captain and Muslim

Muslim

A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...

  Chaplain

Chaplain

Traditionally, a chaplain is a minister in a specialized setting such as a priest, pastor, rabbi, or imam or lay representative of a religion attached to a secular institution such as a hospital, prison, military unit, police department, university, or private chapel...

  James Yee

James Yee

James J. Yee is an American former United States Army chaplain with the rank of captain...

, and Army Colonel Jack Farr

Jack Farr

Colonel Jack Farr was a reserve officer, specializing in military intelligence, who was posted to Camp Delta at the US naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba....

.

Conviction and sentence

On January 10, 2005, Mehalba pleaded guilty to lying to government agents and removing classified documents. On February 18, 2005, Mehalba was sentenced to 20 months in prison, with credit for 17 months, time served. He was released in March, 2005.

External links

• Finer, Jonathan Interpreter Pleads Guilty to Taking Data Washington Post, (January 11, 2005)
• CNN Court-martial begins for ex-Gitmo interpreter
• Former Civilian Translator Sentenced to 20 Months Rantburg (February 18, 2005)