Marine goes to trial decade after vanishing
CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. – A military judge granted small concessions to both prosecutors and defense lawyers as he ruled Monday on pretrial motions in the desertion case of a U.S. Marine who vanished from his unit in Iraq a decade ago and wound up in Lebanon.
The judge considered several motions in the trial of Cpl. Wassef Hassoun, who faces charges of desertion, larceny and destruction of government property. A jury of military officers was expected to be seated later.
Defense attorneys maintain Hassoun was kidnapped in 2004 by insurgents and later became tangled up in Lebanese courts. Prosecutors allege Hassoun fled his post because he was unhappy with his deployment and the treatment of Iraqis by U.S. troops.
Hassoun, a native of Lebanon and a naturalized American citizen, faces a maximum sentence of 27 years in prison if convicted of all charges, prosecutors have said.
A September report from the military equivalent of a grand jury hearing acknowledges prosecutors could have a hard time tracking down witnesses from a decade ago. Hassoun, now 35, enlisted in the Marine Corps in January 2002 and served as an Arabic translator.
The judge, Marine Maj. Nicholas Martz, denied a defense motion Monday to prevent prosecutors from calling a witness who served as a translator for U.S. forces in Iraq. The Iraq native is now living in the United States.
Defense attorney Haytham Faraj argued that the witness last interacted with his client weeks before his disappearance from a Marine base in Fallujah, Iraq, in 2004 and thus the conversations weren’t relevant to the case.
But the prosecutor, Capt. Chris Nassar, told the judge that Hassoun made incriminating comments to the witness, including that Hassoun said he didn’t want to die in Iraq and that he wanted to leave the Marines.
“It appears there may be some issue with the consistency of statements,” the judge said, adding he still deemed the testimony relevant.
The judge denied a motion by prosecutors asking that the defense be prevented from referring to certain evidence in opening statements. Prosecutors argued that the defense shouldn’t be allowed in opening to refer to a video that purportedly shows Hassoun being held by insurgents, nor mention Lebanese government documents related to court proceedings against Hassoun in that country.
The judge allowed the evidence to be mentioned in opening statements, but warned that the defense must later show the trustworthiness of those documents.
As for the video, Faraj said that it shows several men standing around Hassoun and holding a sword over his head. “It speaks for itself,” he said.
Days after Hassoun disappeared in 2004, he appeared blindfolded and with a sword poised above his head in a photo purportedly taken by insurgents. An extremist group claimed to be holding him captive.
Not long after that, Hassoun turned up unharmed at the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, saying he’d been kidnapped. But officials were suspicious, and he was brought back to Camp Lejeune in 2004 while the military considered charging him.
After his return, Hassoun was allowed to visit family in Utah. With a military court hearing looming, Hassoun disappeared a second time in early 2005. Prosecutors have said his whereabouts were unknown for years until he was arrested by authorities in Lebanon after Interpol issued a bulletin triggered by his deserter status.
Authorities said Lebanese court proceedings against Hassoun last until 2013. He was then brought to Camp Lejeune last summer after he contacted U.S. authorities.