by TChris

A court martial may be thwarted by the government's interference with the accused's right to discuss the evidence with his civilian lawyer. The government originally accused Senior Airman Ahmad Halabi of spying for Syria, although it dropped 13 of the original 30 counts, including espionage. The government claims that Halabi, a Syrian-American linguist who had been assigned to the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay, tried to deliver messages from detainees to someone in Syria.

Today Halabi asked that the remaining counts (including charges that he mishandled classified information and attempted espionage) be dismissed. Halabi's civilian attorney, Donald Rehkopf Jr., complained that he cannot talk to his client or to Halabi's military attorneys about, and has been barred from seeing, classified evidence.

He also cannot talk with Halabi or the attorneys about such topics as the case of Army Capt. James Yee, who was arrested Sept. 10 on suspicion of espionage but charged with only two counts of mishandling classified information. Yee briefly supervised Halabi when he worked at Guantanamo.