Court martial considered in Marine desertion case

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — A Marine hearing officer has recommended a court martial for a Marine accused of deserting his unit a decade ago and later winding up in Lebanon for eight years, a defense lawyer said Thursday.

Defense attorney Haytham Faraj said the officer overseeing the military equivalent of a grand jury recommended that 34-year-old Cpl. Wassef Hassoun face a general court martial on all charges against him. A Marine general will have the final say on whether to try Hassoun.

Faraj said the hearing officer, Lt. Col. Scott W. Martin, noted in his report that the case against Hassoun consists mostly of circumstantial evidence and that many witnesses cited by prosecutors, including some in Iraq, would be hard to find. Still, Martin found that the government had enough evidence to proceed.

“It’s not surprising,” Faraj said of the decision. “I think Lt. Col. Martin wrote a fair report.”

The Marine public affairs officer handling media on the case wasn’t at his desk to receive a phone call and didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment on Martin’s decision.

Faraj has said that Hassoun was kidnapped in Iraq a decade ago when he first disappeared. Later, after returning to the U.S., Hassoun disappeared again while the Marines were considering desertion charges against him. During that time, the U.S. military has said it didn’t know his whereabouts for eight years. Faraj said his client had gone on a visit to Lebanon but was tied up for years in that country’s court system.

Hassoun contacted U.S. military officials in 2013 and was brought back to the U.S.