US officer faces security charges

Many Guantanammo Bay inmates have been held for two years

A United States Army intelligence officer has been charged with violating security at the American camp in Guantanamo Bay, in Cuba.

Colonel Jack Farr is the fourth man to be accused of security breaches at the camp, where about 660 terror suspects are detained.

He is accused of "wrongly transporting classified material" and lying to investigators, a US spokesman said.

The spokesman did not say kind of classified material was involved.

Colonel Farr is a reservist who had been on temporary duty at Guantanamo for six month, when the alleged offences occurred in October.

"He was departing when the investigation revealed some security violations," the spokesman said.

No custody

Colonel Farr is not under arrest and has not been suspended.

Three others have been charged with security violations at Guantanamo bay:

• Senior Airman Ahmad al-Halabi, an air force translator, is accused of trying to pass to Syria classified information on the centre and the prisoners held there.

• Army Captain James Yee, also known as Yousef Yee - the former Muslim chaplain at the base - has been charged with improperly handling classified information.

• Civilian translator Ahmad Mehalba is accused of gathering defence information and lying to investigators.

Camp Delta at Guantanamo Bay was set up for al-Qaeda suspects and alleged members of Afghanistan's former Taleban regime.