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Marine Cpl. Wassef Ali Hassoun, whose disappearance from his Iraq camp launched a five-month military investigation, was charged Thursday with desertion.
The West Jordan Marine, a Muslim immigrant from Lebanon, has not been taken into custody and remains on duty at his home base, Camp Lejeune, N.C. He will be allowed to return to Utah on holiday leave later this month, officials said.
Hassoun's eldest brother, Mohamad, said late Thursday the family is ''in shock'' but steadfastly believes the Marine is innocent.
"Of course he is," said Mohamad Hassoun, voice quavering. "We always move forward. Life goes on. . . . We leave it in God's hands."
Mohamad Hassoun said he had spoken with his brother Thursday afternoon but declined to characterize the conversation. He said the family still is deciding whether to hire a civilian lawyer for Hassoun, who faces hearings under Article 32 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice in January. He already has a military attorney.
Hassoun also is charged with loss of government property and theft of a military firearm, his 9 mm handgun, as well as theft and wrongful appropriation of a government vehicle.
"It involves a Humvee that was part of his unit," said Maj. Matt Morgan, spokesman for Hassoun's 4th Marine Expeditionary Brigade. He would not elaborate.
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If convicted of desertion, Hassoun, 24, could be dishonorably discharged and imprisoned for five years. The other counts carry penalties of five to 10 years in prison, dishonorable discharge and forfeiture of pay.
Hassoun failed to show up for duty at his camp near Fallujah on June 20, and at first was considered a possible deserter. Then came rumors that Hassoun, shocked by the death of a comrade, bolted with the help of Iraqi civilians, who turned him over to terrorists.
His status was changed to captured when he later was shown in a video broadcast on Arab television, blindfolded and apparently menaced by a sword. Reports that Hassoun had been executed were followed by ones he was alive and "in a safe place."
On July 8, he turned up in Beirut, Lebanon, met with members of his family and was taken to the U.S. Embassy.
During the second week of November, U.S. troops searching buildings during the assault on Fallujah found Hassoun's uniform, military identification card and a book.
The Marine Corps filed the charges based on an investigation that the Naval Criminal Investigative Service conducted on two continents and completed Nov. 30. The agency collected hundreds of statements from U.S. service members and foreign nationals regarding the case, Morgan said.
Details of the Marine's alleged capture were not released Thursday and remain under investigation, said Morgan, who explained a second, "classified" investigation still is under way.
Once complete, charges from the second probe include a "world of possibilities," Morgan said. But the brigade spokesman said he doesn't anticipate that Hassoun would be charged with a capital offense - "that's really getting out there," he said - or a charge of treason. Hassoun will be granted the holiday leave because he is not considered a flight risk, although he can't leave the continental United States. Morgan also said Hassoun is not considered to be a disruption among the military base population.
"If we thought that, we would confine him," Morgan said.
Upon his return to the United States in late July, Hassoun insisted he had been kidnapped, and he issued a pair of statements pledging his loyalty to the Marine Corps.
He spent the month of August with family - including his new Lebanese wife - on compassionate leave in Utah as part of a lengthy repatriation process.
Hassoun returned to duty at Camp Lejeune in September and a short time later terminated his final meeting with NCIS investigators after being read his rights under military law.
He returned to Utah in October to spend the Islamic holy month of Ramadan with his family in West Jordan.
Most of Utah's congressional delegation, which has remained largely mum on the issue, could not be reached for comment. Sen. Orrin Hatch's spokeswoman, Heather Barney, said Thursday he "doesn't feel it would be appropriate to comment."
Hassoun's West Jordan neighbors, who rallied to his family's side during the summer, were silent late Thursday.
There is support for Hassoun among Utah's 6,000 Muslims, said Shuaid-ud Din, imam at the Khadeeja Islamic Center in West Valley City, who said the Marine will be remembered in prayers.
"I have faith in our system," said Iqbal Hossain, president of the Islamic Society of Greater Salt Lake and a friend of the Hassoun family. "I have to give them [the military] the benefit of the doubt. If I didn't think that, it would be a very difficult situation for us to handle."
Still, he said, Hassoun will no doubt get extra scrutiny because he is Muslim.
"I would be lying if I said Muslims are not under a microscope in this country, especially since 9-11," Hossain said.
Retired Brig. Gen. David Brahms, who was staff judge advocate to the Commandant Marine Corps from 1985 to 1988, predicted the Hassoun proceedings will generate intense interest.
"Given the explosiveness of this case, given the fact there's considerable interest, certainly in our country, recognizing the reality of media and military today, this is something that is going to be scrutinized," he said.
But Brahms, who is not involved in the case, said the circumstances don't bode well for Hassoun.
"This isn't nice. We have to have an accounting," he said. "We may easily get three years out of this, unless he's got a wonderful story, and he may."
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Tribune reporters Robert Gehrke, Peggy Fletcher Stack and Jason Bergreen contributed to this story.