Washington ? Military officials have charged an Air Force translator at Guantanamo Bay prison camp for terror suspects with espionage and aiding the enemy for allegedly trying to send information about detainees to Syria.

The Pentagon’s disclosure of the case against Senior Airman Ahmad I. al-Halabi of Detroit comes three days after officials said a Muslim chaplain at the base had been arrested. The chaplain, Army Capt. Yusef Yee, has been held without charge since his Sept. 10 arrest.

The two men knew each other, an Air Force spokesman said, but officials said they didn’t know if there had been any conspiracy to breach security at the prison camp.

The charges against al-Halabi, however, include an allegation that al-Halabi failed to report unauthorized contacts between prisoners and other military members. Those other military members are not identified.

Al-Halabi, 24, is being held at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, Air Force Maj. Michael Shavers said Tuesday. The most serious charges against him, espionage and aiding the enemy, could carry the death penalty.

Al-Halabi worked for nine months as an Arabic language translator at Guantanamo Bay, a job that ended shortly before his July 23 arrest in Jacksonville, Fla.,

When he was arrested, al-Halabi was carrying two handwritten notes from detainees that al-Halabi intended to turn over to someone traveling to Syria, the charging documents say. He was also carrying his personal laptop computer, which contained classified information about detainees and 180 messages from detainees al-Halabi intended to send to Syria or Qatar, the documents allege.

Al-Halabi is accused of taking pictures of the prison camp and having unauthorized contact with the inmates, including giving them baklava desserts.

Al-Halabi, who joined the Air Force in January 2000, is Syrian.