[JURIST] US Navy Lt. Cmdr. Matthew M. Diaz, a former staff judge advocate stationed at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive], was convicted Thursday of one count of communicating secret information that could be used to injure the United States and three counts of leaking information to unauthorized persons. Prosecutors had argued during Diaz's court-martial [JURIST report] that he endangered the lives of detainees and of US soldiers in the war on terror. Diaz's lawyers had argued that the information was not marked classified and that Diaz had no reason to believe that the names of the detainees "could be used to injure the United States."

In February 2005, Diaz mailed Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) [advocacy website] human rights lawyer Barbara Olshansky printouts of approximately 550 detainee names, months before AP forced the Department of Defense to officially release the detainee lists [JURIST report] through Freedom of Information Act requests. AP has more.

BREAKING NEWS: Diaz has been sntenced to six months in prison. AFP has more.

ALSO ON JURIST  Text: Diaz Guantanamo names court-martial documents