DATE=4/5/02

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=PENTAGON/DETAINEE (L ONLY)

NUMBER=2-288385

BYLINE=ALEX BELIDA

DATELINE=PENTAGON

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: A U-S-born man captured with Taleban and al-Qaida fighters in Afghanistan has been flown to the United States from a military base in Cuba as officials ponder his fate. More from V-O-A Correspondent Alex Belida at the Pentagon.

TEXT: 22-year-old Yasser Esam Hamdi was flown from the U-S Navy base at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba to a military facility in the eastern state of Virginia.

The transfer follows the disclosure that Mr. Hamdi --- one of some 300 al-Qaida and Taleban detainees in Cuba --- was born in the United States and could be an American citizen.

Mr. Hamdi was captured late last year in Afghanistan. The commander of U-S forces in the country says there were suspicions from the outset that he might be an American because he spoke English.

But General Tommy Franks says his status was not clarified by the time he was transferred from Afghanistan to Cuba.

///FRANKS ACTUALITY///

I can tell you that at the time he left Afghanistan, we could neither confirm nor deny that he was an American citizen.

///END ACTUALITY///

Mr. Hamdi was born to Saudi parents who were working in the southern state of Louisiana and who returned to Saudi Arabia while he was still a small child.

He was captured in Afghanistan late last year at the same time that U-S troops took into custody the so-called American Taleban, John Walker Lindh.

Mr. Lindh is jailed in the United States and faces terrorism-related charges in a U-S court.

If Mr. Hamdi's U-S citizenship is confirmed, he, too, could be liable to similar prosecution.

As an American citizen, he could not be brought before the special military commissions President Bush has ordered formed to try foreign terrorist suspects like those held at Guantanamo Bay. (Signed)

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