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Prosecution accuses Yemeni jihadis of training to attack oil facilities
The Yemen State Security Court is holding the trial of a group of 36 men accused of planning terrorist acts, including bombing of oil facilities in Mareb and Hadhramout, east of the country.The 36 defenders, many of them under 18, were also accused of being affiliates of a group "Al Qaida organisation cell in Arab Peninsula - Yemen". Prosecutor Khalid Al Mawri said: "the defendants were intending to carry out Jihad acts against the Americans and their agents in Yemen and they were trained in Mareb desert". In Sunday's session chaired by Judge Redhwan Al Namer, the prosecutor said the 36-member group was trained by the leader of the group, Nasser Al Wehaishi, who pledged with them to do Jihad and to support Osama Bin Laden. Fawaz Al Rabie, who was killed in clashes with security men last October, and Qasem Al Raimi, who is still at large, were training the group on how to use Kalashnikovs, hand grenades and to distribute films and handouts of religious shaikhs urging people to Jihad, according to the prosecutor. Al Rabie was inciting the group to fight the Americans in Yemen and all their agents and Yemen. He also asked the group to take revenge for Abu Ali Al Harethi, the alleged Al Qaida leader who was assassinated by an unmanned US drone in Mareb in 2002, the prosecutor said. The defendants denied all the charges and said the the confessions were extracted under coercion. The court will reconvene on April 15. Posted by: ryuge 2007-04-03 |
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