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. Al-Halabi pled guilty to possessing and transporting classified information, violating a general regulation, and lying to investigators. In September 2004, he was sentenced at Travis AFB, California to a bad conduct discharge, 295 days confinement (essentially time served), and reduction to E-1 rank.
Al Halabi served with James Yee while at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Military investigators raided the offices of a military defense counsel at Vandenberg AFB California, seizing a computer, looking for further implicating evidence. The raid was premised on a military investigators' claim that Al Halabi had accessed a "hidden" web page during a break in his Article 32 hearing, but investigators' later claimed to have discovered that it was not hidden, it just did not have the proper links.
Military Prosecutors later acknowledged that of the 200 documents under consideration, all but three were unclassified. U.S. Southern Command announced the documents were classified in February 2004, but the Department of Defense later stated all but three (which were stapled together) were actually unclassified.
Major Kim London, one of Halabi's three Defense Counsel said:
- “The government oversold, overcharged and overreacted in this case and now they’re trying to save face, It was suspicion, not evidence, that made people jump to conclusions, The fact is, he was stereotyped.”
Lt Col Bryan Wheeler, lead prosecutor for the U.S. Air Force, disagreed, claiming that Halabi's "crimes" were "serious."
The case received much media attention, including front page coverage by The New York Times, The Washington Post, the San Francisco Chronicle, and the Los Angeles Times. The case was also featured on CBS 60 Minutes and National Public Radio's "All Things Considered."
The Air Force Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed his conviction and sentence on April 11, 2007 (see link below). His appeal to the United States Court of Appeals of the Armed Forces was denied in September 2007.