| Arabia |
| Yemen releases 2 men convicted of trying to kill former US ambassador |
| 2008-01-15 |
 Two men convicted of trying to kill the former US ambassador to Yemen were ordered released by an appeals court on Monday. According to their indictment, Hezam Ali Hassan, then 17, and Khaled Saleh, who was 18, followed the car of Ambassador Edmund Hull through the Sabeen area of San'a in 2003. Hassan, armed with a pistol and two hand grenades, climbed the wall of a store Hull had entered, the indictment said. Guards apprehended him before he could throw the grenades, it said. |
| Link |
| Arabia | |
| New US Envoy to Yemen Takes Office | |
| 2004-08-17 | |
New US ambassador to Yemen, Thomas Charles Krajeski, has taken up office here, the SABA news agency reported. President Ali Abdullah Saleh received Krajeski's credentials as an ambassador of the United States, said the agency.
| |
| Link |
| Arabia | |
| Prosecutors Walk Out of Yemen Terror Trial | |
| 2004-07-25 | |
Two prosecutors handling the trial of 14 suspects charged with terrorism, including the bombing of a French oil tanker off Yemen's coast in 2002, walked out of the courtroom yesterday in protest against insulting remarks by the defendants. Chief prosecutor Saeed Al-Aqil and his assistant Ali Al-Samit left the court after enduring a stream of criticism and insults from the suspects, who said the prosecution has been hampering decisions taken earlier by the court to enhance their conditions in detention. The suspects also lambasted journalists as agents and threatened to attack them upon their release from jail. Fawaz Yahya Al-Rabyee, 27, a main suspect wanted by US authorities over suspected links to the Al-Qaeda network accused Al-Aqil of allowing US officers to interrogate the suspects. Immediately after prosecutors walked out, the court's chief judge Ahmad Al-Jurmozi left the courtroom without adjourning the hearing, in an apparent protest against the prosecutors' behavior.
When the chief judge asked them about the evidence, the suspects refused to answer and asked for their lawyers to speak for them. The hearing was attended by only one defense lawyer, while the 13 others are boycotting the trial in protest against restrictions on their right to review their clients files. No date was set for the next session. | |
| Link |
| Arabia | ||||
| Yemen: Advocates quit terrorism tribunal | ||||
| 2004-06-12 | ||||
Advocates of the 15 al-Qaeda suspects on trial for several terrorist operations announced their withdrawal from the case due to concerns over the fairness of the tribunal.
| ||||
| Link |
| Arabia | |
| Yemen: Suspects Admit Plot to Murder US Ambassador | |
| 2004-06-02 | |
| Amidst intensified security measures, the Sanaâa Criminal Court started the first hearing of a group of 15 suspected terrorists. The prosecution charged the fifteen suspected terrorists with blowing up the French Oil Tanker in Mukalla in October 2002, carrying out several bombings in Sanaâa, killing one soldier and plotting to blow up the US, UK, French, German and Cuban embassies in Sanaâa as well as plotting to kill the US Ambassador to Yemen Edmund Hull. 14 of the accused were present at the court, although the 15th, Yasser Ali Salem, has yet to be arrested. When the prosecutor said the name of Limburg, the suspected terrorists shouted âAllah Akbar, Allah Akbar,â a tone showing happiness of victory. The prosecutor Saeed al-Akil said before the court judge Ahmad al-Jermuzi the suspected terrorists rented a house in Hadramaut to store explosives and another to get the boat prepared; he said the boat cost was $20,000. They also bought two tons of explosives where they stuffed the boat with an amount ranging from 1150-1250 kilo of TNT and 20 kilo of C4 plus a number of flashtubes. The operation against the tanker left one dead and caused, according to the prosecutor, an environment catastrophe. He also accused some of them, mainly Fawaz al-Rabee of firing against the helicopter owned by the US Oil Company Hunt wherein one of the crew was wounded. He said seven rockets were launched against the plane in addition to over 150 bullets fired by Hizam Mujali. The prosecution also accused them of carrying out several terrorist explosions in different parts of the capital Sanaâa including the office of the intelligence and house of one of its directors. The charges also included a plot to blow up the US, UK, French, German and Cuban embassies in Sanaâa as well as killing the US Ambassador to Yemen Edmund Hull. Some of the suspects denied the charges but some admitted them, mainly the plot to kill the US Ambassador. Saleem al-Dailami said that they wanted to restore the dignity of the government by killing Edmund Hull and take revenge for Abu Ali al-Harithi who was killed by an American drone in the desert of Marib in November 2002. âWe have gathered around as friends and plotted to kill the US Ambassador, we talked about that,â he said. The leading member of the group Fawaz al-Rabee was accused also of killing one soldier along with Hizam Mughalis when he tried to arrest them as well as throwing a grenade at policemen in Sanaâa. However he denied and refused to talk unless he gets an advocate.
| |
| Link |
| Arabia | ||||
| Yemen Trial Begins in Oil-Tanker Attack | ||||
| 2004-05-30 | ||||
Fourteen militants allegedly involved in an attack on a French oil tanker, including a man sought by the United States, refused to enter pleas Saturday as their trial began under tight security.
| ||||
| Link |
| Arabia |
| Yemen foils plot to assassinate US ambassador |
| 2004-05-16 |
| This is from the Borneo Bulletin. This seems to not constitute ânewsâ in the âmainstreamâ press. Yemeni authorities foiled a terrorist plot to assassinate the US ambassador in Sanâa last year, Yemenâs interior minister said Wednesday. Interior Minister Rashad al-Eleimi, addressing parliament, said that 195 terrorist suspects are in Yemeni custody for the bombing of USS Cole, the French oil tanker Limburg and an assassination attempt against US Ambassador Edmund Hull. Yemen had never previously made public such a plot. Al-Eleimi didnât elaborate. But an Interior Ministry official told The Associated Press that the plotters were arrested before they could carry out their plan, in the second half of last year. |
| Link |
| Arabia |
| Interior Min: Yemen Foiled â03 Plot To Kill US Ambassador |
| 2004-05-12 |
| Yemeni authorities foiled a terrorist plot to assassinate the U.S. ambassador in Sanâa last year, Yemenâs interior minister said Wednesday. Interior Minister Rashad al-Eleimi, addressing parliament, said that 195 terrorist suspects are in Yemeni custody for the bombing of the USS Cole, the French oil tanker Limburg and an assassination attempt against U.S. Ambassador Edmund Hull. Yemen had never previously made public such a plot. Al-Eleimi didnât elaborate. But an Interior Ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The Associated Press that the plotters were arrested before they could carry out their plan, in the second half of last year. He gave no further details. A spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in Sanâa referred all questions about the alleged plot to the Yemeni government. Al-Eleimi said 43 of the terrorist suspects have been referred to the state prosecutor for possible charges. Seventeen U.S. sailors were killed when the USS Cole was bombed in October 2000 as it refueled in the southern port city of Aden. The bombing was blamed on the al-Qaida terror network. In 2002, one Bulgarian crewman was killed in a suicide attack by a small boat on the Limburg off the Yemeni coast, spilling 90,000 barrels of oil into the Gulf of Aden. |
| Link |
| Arabia |
| Yemen to Enact Anti-Terror Law |
| 2004-04-21 |
| I'd say if somebody needs an anti=terror law, it's probably Yemen... The Yemeni government is planning to pass a law that will deal with the countryâs campaign against terrorism, Justice Minister Adnan Al-Jifri said. He told US Ambassador Edmund J. Hull that his ministry was drafting a âlaw on fighting terrorism in Yemen,â according to Saba news agency. The minister said the new law would include a âprecise definitionâ of terrorism. It would also establish legal procedures for counter-terrorism. Yemen, a close ally with the United States in the fight against terrorism, has been widely criticized by human rights groups for detaining dozens of suspects without trials. |
| Link |
| Arabia |
| Zindani accuses US of targeting Islam |
| 2004-04-07 |
| He confuses targeting Islam with targeting him... Sheikh Abdulmajeed al-Zindani, head of Islah Central Committee and Rector of al-Eman University criticized the US Ambassador to Yemen Edmund Hull for the accusations that al-Eman University promotes extremism in Yemen and helps fund terrorism. A press statement issued by al-Zindaniâs office, distributed on Wednesday, condemned the unnecessary US worry over the university. It also called, in a way to show al-Zindaniâs interest in direct dialogue with the US, to âbe honest and just in their charges against Sheikh Zindani and al-Eman University.â It pointed out that the US accusations against al-Zindani and al-Eman University fell in line with âthe US Administrationâs policy of trying to dry up the springs of Islamâ rather than terrorism. Mr. Edmund Hull told al-Nahar independent weekly last Wednesday that âwe are worried about the activities of al-Eman University; we aim to stop foreign funds to al-Zindani, so as to stop his funding for the university and the activities that promote terrorism and finance terrorism.â Al-Zindani was put by the US Treasury Department on the list of people suspected of supporting and funding al-Qaeda and terrorist organizations. Al-Zindani denied such accusations. The US media reported in January 2003 that prisoners held in connection with the attack against the USS Cole told local authorities that al-Zindani issued a decree or fatwa ordering the strike and that the authorities did not investigate into such allegations which were denied by some leaders of the Islah party. Al-Zindaniâs statement disclosed that âthe US Ambassador informed Sheikh Abdullah al-Ahmar, chairman of Islah Party that a student of al-Eman University called Amer al-Shareef was being detained by Yemeni security authorities, and that he previously used to run al-Qaeda cells at the university, but that the investigations made by al-Ahmar and al-Zindani with the university administration found that the name was not enrolled at the university and did not study at it at allâ. It added âal-Ahmar told the ambassador about this information,â but the ambassador replied that âhe might not be a student at the university but he had contacts with its students.â Despite the denial of al-Zindani and al-Eman University that Abed al-Kamil, murderer of the three US doctors at the Jibla Baptist Hospital on December 30, 2002 was not a student at the university, Hull said âthe killer of the doctors in Jibla is a member of the al-Eman university and it has a role in promoting extremism.â Al-Zindaniâs statement accused the US administration of targeting the Muslim world, its governments, clerics, and its educational and charity institutions. It said that on the basis of this, the US administration âpracticed the policy of drying up the springs of Islam, alleging that it is drying up the springs of terrorism. It demanded the governments in Muslim countries change the Islamic education curricula of schools, institutes and universities.â |
| Link |
| Arabia | ||
| Zindani denies allegations | ||
| 2004-03-02 | ||
Sheikh Abdulmajeed al-Zindani, head of Islah's Consultative Council, denied US allegations on his involvement in terrorists' support.
The US Treasury Department announced Tuesday that al-Zindani, Rector of al-Eman (Religious) University, has been added to the American government's list of people suspected of supporting terrorist activities. This statement of al-Zindani came out after intensive meetings for high ranking leaders of the Islah party headed by Sheikh Abdullah Bin Hussein al-Ahmar who is also a prime leader of Hashid Tribe and speaker of parliament. Al-Zindani called a press conference Thursday to comment on the US allegations but when journalists were at the spot, al-Zindani refused to be filmed or recorded and said that Islah leadership would hold an emergency meeting to reply to the US charges. He said that he could not comment unless he receives documents of the charges by the Americans.
Yemen Times tried to contact the US embassy to get any official comment on this case but they apologized because it is very sensitive and critical and they do not want to be misquoted. However, John Ballian, Public Affairs Officer at the US embassy in Sana'a said a press statement that adding al-Zindani to the US terrorist suspect list does not "constitute a request for extradition". Political analysts described the Islah response to the charges as "clever and cautious" as it does not want to defend him before things become clear, putting the case at the hand of the state because he is a Yemeni citizen and that Islah is not a government but a political party that has no embassies through which to contact the US administration. | ||
| Link |
| Middle East |
| U.S. Woos Yemen to Fight Terror Without War |
| 2003-10-24 |
| EFL from Rueters Worldview SANAA, Yemen - The United States used the full might of its armed forces in Iraq and Afghanistan to rout its enemies. But when it came to Yemen, Washington chose diplomacy over conflict. I thought we were aggresive unilateralists. The country known to the Romans as Arabia Felix -- Happy Arabia -- is today an impoverished hotbed of Muslim militancy and lawlessness. I would provide the Latin phase for outhouse, but I only remeber the phrase: semper ubi sububi - always wear underwear. It is also the ancestral home of Saudi-born al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, whom many Yemenis admire. The United States, burdened with costly conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq, is trying to win over the support of Yemenis with tactics less bloody and cheaper than war. I thought war was good for the multinational corporations that we are beholden to. It is equipping and training Yemeni security forces in anti-terror tactics and giving the coast guard patrol boats, while building roads and clinics and fighting illiteracy. Wait a minute - this clinic and road building stuff is Bin Ladenâs job. This has cost Washington up to some $100 million a year in military and other financial aid to Yemen, in stark contrast to the $87 billion earmarked for Iraq and Afghanistan. "You canât have stability without development and you canât have development without stability," the U.S. ambassador to Yemen, Edmund Hull, told Reuters. A decade ago I would never have suspected that the US would be providing nation-building type aid to Yemen. Analysts say Washingtonâs approach to the situation is wise, given the difficulties Yemenâs government is facing because of its cooperation with the United States. They say authorities in Yemen, where nearly half the 20 million population live on $2 a day, are torn between U.S. aid and the rising anti-American sentiment among tribal and Islamic chiefs and ordinary Yemenis over perceived pro-Israeli U.S. bias. In Iraq and Afghanistan, analysts say, the United States kicked in the back door, but in Yemen it went for a diplomatic solution. I beg to differ. In Iraq we came through the front door after knocking for a six month period. We also sent Spec-ops through the windows and JDAMâd down the chimney. The Big Bad Wolf wishes he could of had our skills. "Busting in the door in Yemen would be like knocking down a wasp hive," Evan Kohlman, senior terrorism analyst at the Investigative Project, a Washington think tank which runs one of the biggest databases on Islamic militancy, told Reuters. Could be right - hope we donât have to find out. "It would certainly shake the trees but we might be a bit surprised at what we shook out. It could be very bloody." Shortly after the U.S. war in Afghanistan to hunt down al Qaeda, media speculation was rife that Yemen, Somalia and Sudan would be next in a second phase of the war on terror. But trying to improve its reputation as a haven for Muslim militants, Yemen began a massive security crackdown in the first military operation against al Qaeda outside Afghanistan. In the areas that the government actually controls. "It seems Yemen remains the back door to the Saudi militants on the Arabian peninsula and it is how al Qaeda members sneak in and out," said Jeremy Binnie of London-based Janeâs Sentinel. A transit route for the incense trade 3,000 years ago, Yemen is now a favorite spot for drugs and arms smugglers due to its strategic position on the southern tip of the Arabian peninsula, its porous 1,100-mile border with Saudi Arabia and its long, poorly controlled coastline. If they begin to behave, trade will return. Location, location, location. The United States views this part of the region as one of the most combustible in the world and patrols its seas from a military base in Djibouti on the Red Sea coast opposite Yemen. The FBI plans to set up an office in the capital Sanaa this year. A U.S.-backed computerized border control system has been installed, though it is often hampered by power cuts. In return for U.S. support, Yemen has arrested dozens of al Qaeda suspects, allowed American warships free use of its waters and opened its air space to U.S. warplanes. This is quite surprising. The government has also banned the carrying of weapons in cities and towns. But it has had little success in its campaign to seize millions of unlicensed arms in Yemen. "This is a significant political move in a country...where a man wearing a Kalashnikov is like a businessman wearing a tie," said Philip McCrumm of the Economist Intelligence Unit. To stamp out Islamic extremism, Sanaa has tried to put religious schools under its control. But critics say the government has little power outside the main cities and that the most radical schools remain untouched. Despite the crackdown, two suspects in the Cole bombing are still at large. But analysts express cautious optimism over the security efforts. Sanaa has complained that the U.S. aid does not cover the costs of the war on terror. But the U.S. approach is winning approval from some Yemenis. "There is an old saying: You have to touch the hearts and minds of the Yemenis to win them over. If you oppress them they are willing to sacrifice everything (to fight) for their dignity," said Faris Sanabani, editor of the Yemen Observer. This is a very hopeful and positive message and it came from Reuters. |
| Link |