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Ex-translator gets 10 years over secret papers

NEW YORK — A former Arabic translator for the Army in Iraq has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for being caught with secret documents.

The defendant, who goes by the name Noureddine Malki, received the term Monday in Brooklyn federal court.

He had pleaded guilty to possessing national defense documents and to using an alias, Almaliki Nour, while becoming a U.S. citizen. Authorities say his true identity remains unknown and his motive unclear.

Using his false identity, the defendant was hired by a contractor in 2003 as a translator for an intelligence unit of the 82nd Airborne Division stationed in the Sunni Triangle. In a 2005 raid, authorities discovered the documents — some marked “secret” — in his New York apartment.

Court papers say one document included precise information about U.S. weaponry and targets. Another detailed 82nd Airborne strategies for dealing with tribal groups in Iraq.