A civilian translator at the Guantanamo Bay prison camp for al Qaeda and Taliban suspects was charged on Tuesday with lying to federal officials about apparently classified documents that he was carrying when he arrived in the US from Egypt.
The arrest of Mr Ahmed Fathy Mehalba, who once served in the US Army, brought to three the number of people detained after being assigned to work at the US prison camp in Cuba where more than 650 suspected al Qaeda and Taliban members are held without charge.
Mr Mehalba, a naturalized US citizen of Egyptian descent, was taken into custody on Monday at Boston's Logan International Airport after customs officials found what appeared to be classified documents stored on a compact disc in his luggage, according to a criminal complaint.
Mr Mehalba initially told agents he was not carrying any business- or government-related documents from Guantanamo Bay. When confronted with the files on the disc, the translator acknowledged he had access to classified information as part of his work but said he did not know how the information came to be stored on the disc.
During a short hearing yesterday in federal court in Boston, US Magistrate Judge Charles Swartwood ordered Mr Mehalba held without bond pending a further hearing on October 8th.
Mr Mehalba, wearing an orange polo shirt and blue jeans, said little in court except that he could not afford a lawyer and that he understood his rights.