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News Sport Weather World Service Languages Low Graphics version | Change edition About BBC News | Feedback | Help News Front Page Africa Americas Asia-Pacific Europe Middle East South Asia UK Business Health Science/Nature Technology Entertainment ----------------- Have Your Say In Pictures Week at a Glance Country Profiles In Depth Programmes LANGUAGES MORE > Last Updated: Friday, 9 July, 2004, 13:58 GMT 14:58 UK E-mail this to a friend Printable version 'Freed' US marine leaves Lebanon Cpl Hassoun was threatened with death in a recent video A US marine facing questioning from US officials after allegedly being abducted in Iraq has being flown from Lebanon to Germany. Cpl Wassef Ali Hassoun, 24, appeared in Beirut earlier this week after reports that his kidnappers had freed him. A Pentagon spokesman said Mr Hassoun is now "under military control". A criminal investigation into his disappearance is under way, amid speculation that the abduction was staged to mask a desertion attempt. Conflicting reports The authorities have taken Mr Hassoun to a medical facility at a US military base near Frankfurt in Germany, a spokeswoman said. The BBC's Pentagon correspondent, Nick Childs, says he is likely to face heavy questioning over his disappearance, though defence officials say it is too early to draw any conclusions. A video clip showing a blindfolded Cpl Hassoun being threatened with death by Islamist captors was released in late June, shortly after the US military reported him missing. Despite the captors' threat - and some reports that it had been carried out - Cpl Hassoun is said to have later been released after he promised to stop working for the US military. His family had urged his kidnappers to spare him because he was an Arab and a fellow Muslim. Collaborator charge US state department spokesman Richard Boucher said the marine had been picked up on Thursday morning after he contacted the embassy in Beirut. As news came through that Cpl Hassoun was safe, there were reports of a gun battle in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli between members of his family and another which apparently accused them of being US collaborators. At least two people were killed in the clashes, according to local officials. The area of the country is renowned both for the regularity of blood feuds between rival families and for being a Sunni Muslim stronghold. Translator The marines have launched a criminal investigation into his disappearance and although they will not say what crime he is alleged to have committed, they have said that his absence from duty is an issue. It is unclear how Cpl Hassoun was able to get from Iraq to Lebanon. He would have had to travel 800km, much of it across Syrian territory. Cpl Hassoun was born in Lebanon, educated at American schools there and then joined the US marines after moving to Utah four years ago. The 24-year-old is fluent in Arabic, French and English and was reportedly serving as a translator in his second stint in Iraq when he was captured. 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