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Arabia

U.S. Says Several Americans 'Detained' in Yemen

2015-06-01

[AnNahar] Several Americans have been detained in Yemen, a State Department official said Sunday, amid reports that at least four U.S. citizens are being held by Iranian catspaws. The Washington Post reported that the Americans were believed to be held by the Huthi militia in a prison near the capital Sanaa, and that U.S. efforts to secure their release had faltered, hampered by the fact that Washington has no direct links to the rebels. The State Department had seen the "reports that several U.S. citizens have recently been detained in Yemen," the official told AFP. "We are doing everything we can to get these individuals released," the official said, but would not say how many were held or who was holding them. "The protection of U.S. citizens abroad is a top priority," he added, saying for privacy and safety reasons no further information could be given. U.S. officials, quoted by the Post, said none of those held were U.S. babus government employees. Three of the prisoners were believed to work in the private sector, while a fourth was a dual U.S.-Yemen ...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of. Except for a tiny handfull of Jews everthing there is very Islamic... citizen. Amid the violence, Washington closed its embassy in Sanaa in February and has temporarily relocated its ambassador and staff in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. U.S. officials said that efforts to secure the release of the Americans had been mainly through "intermediaries including humanitarian groups that continue to have a presence in Sanaa," the Post said. One of the prisoners had been approved to be released in recent days, but the rebels went back on their decision, the Post said. He had initially been detained for overstaying his visa, but then the rebels accused him of traveling to "sensitive" areas in Yemen, a U.S. official told the Post. A fifth American, identified by the daily as Sharif Mobley, is being held on terrorism charges brought against him more then five years ago, the paper said.

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Arabia

Lawyer Cori Crider, "Sharif Mobley was tortured in Yemeni Prison."

2010-11-13

The simplicity of Yemeni expatriates in New York was the reason why Sharif Mobley and his family went to Yemen in 2008 to study Arabic, said Zenja Mobley, wife of terror suspect Sharif Mobley. Try the Berlitz course next time ... "We did not expect that our visit to Yemen would become a living hell after we lived there for two years quietly and in peace." I would. That's why most people don't go there... Zenja complained that her husband, now facing the death penalty, was even investigated with at the U.S. Embassy because he was "bearded and was interested in religious affairs". That's two warning signs for me, sure enough ... She accuses the U.S. Embassy of ignoring the issue of her husband. She adds that the U.S. Embassy refused to give her a translator when she asked for one. Mobley's U.S. lawyer, Cori Crider added that U.S. intelligence officers threatened Sharif that they would torture his family as well if he does not specify where Anwar Awlaki, a terror suspect, was. Crider added that investigators told him that he and his family would be raped in Yemeni prisons if he does not cooperate. More likely the interrogators told him that they would confine him to a cell with his mouthy wife, after which he sang like a canary ... She added that the reason why Sharif was taken to the hospital was due to his bad health situation after being held in an underground prison, which in result, made his health condition bad. According to the Crider, after Mobley spent two months in prison, American investigators approached him again, and when they did not find the information they wanted from Sharif, they threatened to treat his family the same way. She claims that Mobley was tortured in prison. Meanwhile, ...back at the ranch... his wife claims that she recognized a number of Yemeni officers who searched her house when she went to the embassy and are employed at the U.S. Embassy in Sana'a. On January 24, 2009, governmental troops wearing masks kidnapped Mobley early on the 24th of last January, in front of Maqaleh Grocery Store in the Asbahi area of the capital Sana'a. He is now being trialed not on terror charges, but for killing a soldier. Yemeni government has said that there is no proof that Mobley is linked to terrorism.

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Arabia

American on trial in Yemen probed about Al-Qaeda

2010-11-12

[Arab News] A 26-year old American from New Jersey came to Yemen in 2008 to study religion and language, his US lawyer said -- but ended up nabbed as an Al-Qaeda suspect nearly 18 months later and was held shackled to a police hospital bed for weeks before he allegedly tried to shoot his way out. Sharif Mobley was charged last month with killing a Yemeni soldier and wounding another during the escape attempt in March, when he allegedly convinced a guard to unshackle him, grabbed the man's gun and opened fire. Yemeni officials first mentioned Mobley publicly after the escape attempt, saying he had been rounded up with other Al-Qaeda suspects, and tried to escape while receiving treatment. But Cori Crider, his US lawyer currently in Yemen for his trial, said Mobley was held incommunicado for more than two months after his arrest in late January. Crider said Mobley was interrogated by US and Yemeni agents about his alleged links to Al-Qaeda, and beaten and blindfolded during the detention. Mobley's arrest came only weeks after the failed attack by Nigerian student Umar Farouk Abdulmutalb, who allegedly used a Sanaa language school as cover to enter the country and meet with Al-Qaeda gun-hung tough guys for training before his botched attempt to blow up an American passenger jet on Christmas Day. Since that failed attack, the world's attention has turned to Yemen as a possible destination and easy entry point for foreign beturbanned goons trying to link up with Al-Qaeda. The country hosts a number of popular religious and Arabic-language schools that attract students from around the world. Al-Qaeda's affiliate in the country grabbed credit for the failed mail bombs intercepted last month bound to the US from Yemen, reflecting how increasingly emboldened the Yemeni terror branch has become. Yemen has jugged a number of Al-Qaeda suspects, including Americans who were later released. Evidence that those jugged actually contacted Al-Qaeda is sketchy, and some were likely caught up in the intensified Yemeni search. Yemeni authorities have dropped their accusations of Mobley's alleged ties to Al-Qaeda, but the American still faces the death penalty if convicted of murder and attempted murder of his Yemeni hospital guards.

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Arabia

American terror suspect on trial in Yemen

2010-10-29

[Arab News] An American who was jugged on suspicion of having links with Al-Qaeda has been charged with the murder of a Yemeni soldier and the wounding of another during a failed escape attempt. The 26-year-old American of Somali descent, Sharif Mobley, was charged Wednesday by a criminal court for killing one of his guards and wounding another while attempting to escape from a hospital where he was receiving treatment in March. He was in originally in jug for links to Al-Qaeda. US officials say Mobley, who grew up in Buena, N.J., traveled to Yemen more than two years ago with the goal of joining a terror group and that the US government was aware of his potential bad boy ties long before his arrest. Yemeni prosecutors on Wednesday also charged a leading self-rule activist from the formerly independent south in twin kabooms earlier this month in the regional capital Aden. In a charge sheet read out in court at the second hearing in the trial of five men accused of involvement in the Oct. 11 bombing, prosecutors alleged that lead defendant Faris Abdullah Saleh had fingered Shalal Ali Al-Shaea, leader of the Southern Movement in Daleh province, in a confession. All five defendants disavowed their testimony to police at the opening hearing on Sunday. Defense lawyer Mohammed Al-Aqla told Wednesday's hearing it had been given under duress. Prosecutors told the court that Saleh had told investigators that Shaea had given him two bombs to blow up the Al-Wahda sports club in Aden in a bid to sabotage the 20th Gulf Cup football tournament which is due to be held in the city and in nearby Abyan from Nov. 22. The judge set the next hearing for Nov. 3. The bombing, which no group has grabbed credit for, killed three people and maimed 14. It threw doubt on Yemen's ability to stage the Gulf Cup which pits Yemen against Iraq and the six Gulf Arab states. Aden's security chief Gen. Qiran Abdullah said on Saturday that "all necessary measures... to ensure security in the provinces of Aden, Abyan, and Lahij during the Gulf Cup" had been taken, the Defense Ministry reported. The Southern Movement is a coalition of autonomist and pro-independence factions that has held repeated demonstrations across the region in recent months. The south has also seen a rash of attacks by loyalists of Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden.

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Arabia

Somali-American to go on trial in Yemen

2010-08-25

[Arab News] An American of Somali descent will go on trial next month over the killing of a Yemeni soldier and the wounding of another during a failed escape attempt from detention, a Yemeni security official said Tuesday. If convicted, 26-year-old Sharif Mobley of New Jersey could face the death penalty. Mobley was jugged for suspected links to Al-Qaeda and attempted his escape in March while receiving treatment at a Yemeni hospital for a leg condition. The official was speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media. US officials say Mobley traveled to Yemen more than two years ago with the goal of joining a terror group and that the US government was aware of his potential bad turban ties long before his arrest. While living in the United States, Mobley passed a criminal background check and worked as a laborer at several nuclear power plants, but there is no indication that his work had any connection to his alleged involvement with terror groups. Separately, a Yemeni counterterrorism official said Tuesday that authorities have since June deported a total of 25 foreigners, including Americans, for their suspected links to Al-Qaeda. The official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, said all 25 confessed during questioning of making contact with Al-Qaeda's US-born cleric Anwar Al-Awlaki and Christmas Day bombing suspect Omar Farouk Abdulmutallab. The official did not say how many Americans were among the 25 deported, but that they included citizens of France, Britain and Asian nations he did not identify.

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Arabia

Yemen court questions US Al-Qaeda suspect

2010-05-09

Yemeni authorities have begun questioning a US citizen suspected of being an Al-Qaeda militant who is accused of killing a guard as he tried to escape a hospital, a state-run website said on Thursday. Sharif Mobley, arrested in March along with 10 Al-Qaeda suspects, was handed over to a court in the capital Sanaa. He also faces charges of wounding another guard as he tried to shoot his way out of the hospital where he was being treated, the Yemeni Defense Ministry website said. Yemen became a major Western security concern after the Yemen-based regional arm of Al-Qaeda claimed responsibility for a failed attempt to bomb a US-bound plane in December. A Yemeni official has said Mobley may have had links to a Nigerian man who was behind the Dec. 25 plane bombing attempt. Public Service Enterprise Group Inc., a US company which owns several nuclear power plants, said in March that Mobley, 26, worked at nuclear reactors in 2002-2008, doing routine labor work. Mobley had been in Yemen for at least a year, first studying Arabic at a language institute before attending a university run by prominent hard-line Muslim cleric Sheikh Abdul-Majid Al-Zindani, an official said after his arrest. Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the Nigerian man suspected of being behind the Dec. 25 attack, had visited Yemen to study Arabic and Islam and had had contact with radical US-born Muslim preacher Anwar Al-Awlaki, who is based in the impoverished Arab country. Awlaki was also linked to a US Army psychiatrist who shot dead 13 people at a base in Texas in November. Western allies and neighboring Saudi Arabia fear Al-Qaeda is exploiting instability in Yemen on many fronts to recruit and train militants for attacks in the region and beyond.

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Arabia

Yemen court questions U.S. al Qaeda suspect

2010-05-07

SANAA - Yemeni authorities have begun questioning a U.S. citizen suspected of being an al Qaeda militant who is accused of killing a guard as he tried to escape a hospital, a state-run website said on Thursday. Sharif Mobley, arrested in March along with 10 al Qaeda suspects, was handed over to a court in the capital Sanaa. He also faces charges of wounding another guard as he tried to shoot his way out of the hospital where he was being treated, the Yemeni Defence Ministry website said. Yemen became a major Western security concern after the Yemen-based regional arm of al Qaeda claimed responsibility for a failed attempt to bomb a U.S.-bound plane in December. A Yemeni official has said Mobley may have had links to a Nigerian man who was behind the Dec. 25 plane bombing attempt. Public Service Enterprise Group Inc, a U.S. company which owns several nuclear power plants, said in March that Mobley, 26, worked at nuclear reactors in 2002-2008, doing routine labour work. Mobley had been in Yemen for at least a year, first studying Arabic at a language institute before attending a university run by prominent hardline Muslim cleric Sheikh Abdul-Majid al-Zindani, an official said after his arrest. Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the Nigerian man suspected of being behind the Dec. 25 attack, had visited Yemen to study Arabic and Islam and had had contact with radical U.S.-born Muslim preacher Anwar al-Awlaki, who is based in the impoverished Arab country. Awlaki was also linked to a U.S. Army psychiatrist who shot dead 13 people at a base in Texas in November.

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Terror Networks

Purported al-Awlaki message calls for jihad against U.S.

2010-03-18

American-born Muslim cleric Anwar al-Awlaki is calling for jihad against America, claiming "America is evil" in a new audio message obtained by CNN. "With the American invasion of Iraq and continued U.S. aggression against Muslims, I could not reconcile between living in the U.S. and being a Muslim, and I eventually came to the conclusion that jihad against America is binding upon myself just as it is binding on every other Muslim," he says in the recording that runs more than 12 minutes. CNN could not authenticate the recording as being by al-Awlaki, but sources have told CNN that they believe the voice on the recording is him and that the recording is genuine. Al-Awlaki's voice in the recording is measured and clear, as he takes on the cadence of a preacher. He singles out Muslim Americans for a provocative message: "To the Muslims in America, I have this to say: How can your conscience allow you to live in peaceful co-existence with a nation that is responsible for the tyranny and crimes committed against your own brother and sisters? How can you have your loyalty to a government that is leading the war against Islam and Muslims?" Just last week, Yemeni authorities subdued a New Jersey man, Sharif Mobley, as he tried to shoot his way out of a local hospital. He had been captured days before in an al Qaeda raid. Senior U.S. security officials confirmed to CNN that Mobley left his home in New Jersey to seek out al-Awlaki. The officials say that Mobley made contact with al-Awlaki and was eager to meet up with him eventually in the belief that al-Awlaki could become his al Qaeda mentor. Al-Awlaki's sermons and recordings have been found on the computers of at least a dozen of terror suspects in the U.S. and Britain. In addition, al-Awlaki admits to having communication with U.S. Army Maj. Nidal Hasan, charged in the shooting deaths of 13 people at Fort Hood, Texas, in November. In the new recording, al-Awlaki encourages the United States to release the correspondence between him and Hasan. He accuses the Obama administration of having something to hide. "His (Obama's) administration tried to portray the operation of brother Nidal Hasan as an individual act of violence by an individual. The administration practiced the control on the leak of information concerning the operation in order to cushion the reaction of the American public," said al-Awlaki.

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Arabia

Yeman Guard Killed by American AlQ using prayer ruse

2010-03-15

SAN'A, Yemen — The U.S. al-Qaida suspect detained in Yemen had persuaded his guard to unshackle him so the two could pray together and then snatched his unattended gun and killed him during the suspect's failed escape attempt, senior security officials said Saturday. Sharif Mobley, a 26-year-old American of Somali descent, had traveled to Yemen two years ago, ostensibly to study Arabic, and was recently arrested there in a sweep against al-Qaida.

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Home Front: WoT

Sharif Mobley Tied to Anwar al-Awlaki

2010-03-13

A New Jersey nuclear plant laborer arrested in Yemen with 10 other suspected al Qaeda members was in contact with the same radical Yemeni-American cleric tied to Fort Hood shooting suspect Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, federal law enforcement officials told ABC News. Just more dot-connecting. Pay it no mind ... The New Jersey man, Sharif Mobley, was detained by Yemeni security forces earlier this month and taken to a hospital for medical treatment. He allegedly tried to escape from the hospital over the past weekend by grabbing a security guard's gun and engaging in a gunfight that killed one of the guards. Mohammed Albasha, a spokesman for the Yemeni embassy in Washington, told ABC News that details of Mobley's case "will be clearer in a couple of days." Asked about Mobley's apparent connections with the cleric, Anwar al-Awlaki, Albasha said he was not surprised because radicals and extremists in Yemen seek Awlaki out. "He is a fixture in jihad 101," Albasha said of Awlaki. Before fleeing the United States, Awlaki taught at a Virginia mosque visited by 9/11 hijackers Nawaf al-Hazmi and Hani Hanjour. Since then, Awlaki has become a prominent influence with al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and is believed to be in Yemen. He also was in contact with Hasan, accused of killing 13 people at Fort Hood in Texas in 2009. Awlaki is believed to have survived a cruise missile strike on a meeting with al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula leaders in December that killed several other of the group's members.

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Home Front: WoT

More About That Al-Qaeda Suspect From NJ

2010-03-13

Sharif Mobley, 26, worked for contractors at plants in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Maryland from 2002 to 2008, mostly hauling materials and setting up scaffolding, plant officials said. Mobley, a U.S. citizen of Somali descent, has not been linked to any wrongdoing at any of the plants. Mobley worked for contractors at the Salem and Hope Creek nuclear plants in New Jersey from 2002 to 2008; the Peach Bottom, Limerick and Three Mile Island plants in Pennsylvania from 2003 to 2007; and Calvert Cliffs in Maryland for two weeks in 2006, operators said. Company officials said most of his work came during periodic refueling outages, when hundreds of contract employees descend on the plants. The workers do a variety of jobs, but "nothing technical," said Curt Jenkins, business manager at Mobley's union, Local 222 of the New Jersey Laborers Council. Mobley had "vital access" that allowed him into any area of the plants where he worked in New Jersey, Jenkins said. But guards were posted in the most sensitive places, and "anywhere that you might be able to do anything, they pretty well got that pretty secure." Every worker entering a plant has to clear security, explosives and radiation checkpoints, and that information is recorded, the NRC's Sheehan said. The plants also teach employees to recognize and report suspicious behavior. Jenkins said that he never saw any sign of trouble from Mobley and that he was a union member in good standing. "He always treated us with respect," he said. "Very well-mannered." A law enforcement official says Mobley traveled to Yemen with the goal of joining a terrorist group. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is still going on. A second official, also speaking on condition of anonymity, says the U.S. government was aware of Mobley's potential extremist ties long before his arrest. The official did not say how long the government had been paying attention to him.

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Arabia

US man arrested in Yemen worked in nuclear plants

2010-03-13

Yemen said on Friday it was holding a U.S. citizen suspected of being an al Qaeda militant who killed a hospital guard last week, and a U.S. firm said the suspect had worked at nuclear reactors in New Jersey. The man, named as Sharif Mobley, was among 11 al Qaeda suspects arrested during a series of raids in the Yemeni capital in early March, a Yemeni government source told Reuters. He said Mobley killed a guard as he tried to escape from a hospital where he was being treated. A U.S. company which owns several nuclear power plants said Mobley, 26, worked at the Salem and Hope Creek nuclear reactors in New Jersey and other reactors in the area. The company, Public Service Enterprise Group Inc, said in a report to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission that Mobley worked as a labourer from 2002 to 2008, mainly during refueling outages for several weeks at a time. He did routine labour work carrying supplies and assisting maintenance activities. The source from the Yemeni government told Reuters that Mobley was the al Qaeda suspect who started a gunbattle at a hospital in Sanaa last week in a bid to escape detention. He was recaptured, but not before killing one person and wounding several others. Yemen became a major Western security concern after the Yemen-based regional arm of al Qaeda claimed responsibility for a failed attempt to bomb a U.S.-bound plane in December. A 23-year-old Nigerian man suspected of being behind the attack had visited Yemen to study Arabic and Islam and had had contact with radical U.S.-born Muslim preacher Anwar al-Awlaki, who is based in the impoverished Arab country. Awlaki was also linked to a U.S. Army psychiatrist who shot dead 13 people at the Fort Hood base in Texas in November. In February, U.S. counterterrorism officials said U.S. spy agencies believed Awlaki to have played a bigger role than first thought in al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula's decision to start launching attacks against U.S. targets. Western allies and neighbouring Saudi Arabia fear al Qaeda is exploiting instability in Yemen on many fronts to recruit and train militants for attacks in the region and beyond. In addition to fighting al Qaeda, Yemen is also struggling to contain separatist tensions in the south where violence has escalated in recent weeks. Sanaa is also bringing an end to a northern Shi'ite insurgency. Last month, facing international pressure to turn its sights to al Qaeda, Sanaa declared a truce in the long-running northern conflict.

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