By Mar-Vic Cagurangan
A U.S. government official charged with leaking top-secret documents related to Israel’s plans to retaliate against Iran for a missile attack earlier this year is being detained on Guam pending his transfer to the Eastern District of Virginia, where he will face trial.
Federal Judge Frances Tydingco-Gatewood of the District Court of Guam on Thursday ordered the U.S. Marshalls to hold Asif William Rahman in custody after approving the U.S. Department of Justice’s petition for a writ of removal.
The case is sealed and U.S. trial attorneys declined to provide the media with details of the charges filed against Rahman.
The New York Times reported that Rahman is a CIA official, who leaked "satellite imagery that shed light on a possible strike by Israel on Iran, including the type of missiles, planes and other aircraft its military could use."
The New York Times reported that the documents "began circulating last month on the Telegram app."
According to court documents, Rahman was arrested by FBI agents in Cambodia on Nov. 12 and brought to Guam for his initial court appearance.
Rahman, 34, was indicted on Nov. 7 in federal court in Virginia on two counts of willful retention and transmission of national defense information under the Espionage Act.
Tydingco-Gateweood said the felony offense carries the maximum sentence of 10 years imprisonment and a $250,000 fine.
Brett Reynolds, a trial attorney with the Justice Department’s National Security Division, said his office recommended Rahman’s detention “because of the serious risk of flight presented by this defendant,” “the nature and circumstance of the offense charged” and “the strength of the evidence against him.”
According to court documents, Rahman had "unauthorized possession of a classified document relating to the national defense" and "willfully
retained the document and failed to deliver it to the officer or employee of the United States entitled to receive it."
Reynolds noted that Rahman “resides and works out of a foreign country, although he does have family and ties in the District of Virginia and the Washington, D.C. area” and has “extensive foreign travel to other countries.”
Reynolds argued that “upon the date of his arrest," Rahman, "had imminent planned travel to another foreign country.”
“Given the nature of the materials that he is alleged to have unlawfully transmitted, there are likely to be foreign countries, adversaries of the United States, that might be likely to accept the defendant and provide him refuge if he sought it,” Reynolds told the court.
“Obviously, at least here in Guam, it's a particular place where this defendant has no community ties, no employment ties, and might have the ability to use his financial means, which are also reflected in the Precursor's report, to take advantage of this island's proximity to foreign nations and to international borders," he added.
Represented by court-appointed federal public defender Leilani Lujan, Rahman waived the right to contest his temporary detention on Guam and sought his expedited transfer to Virginia, his official residence.
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