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Yemen to free 150 repentant Al Qaida suspects
"We're sorry. Can we go home now?"
Judge Hamoud A Hetar, member of Yemen's Supreme Court, said on Thursday that 150 detained on suspicion of belonging to Al Qaida would be released during the upcoming Ramadan according to directives of President Ali Abdullah Saleh.
| "Have a nice holiday, boys! See you later!" |
"The 150 men are those who have already declared their repentance and their rejection of all forms of violence and extremism, and they have not been involved in punishable acts," said Al Hetar who is also the chairman of the committee in charge of conducting dialogue with extremists in jails.
| "Who? Us? No, no! Certainly not!" |
He said the committee, made up of five religious scholars, is still holding dialogue sessions with a group of 18 extremists to persuade them to join the mainstream. He expected that the committee would receive more people of those who have willingly surrendered themselves to authorities after Hatat battle last June. Al Hetar confirmed that some 40 men, accused of having committed sabotage and terrorist acts such as the bombings of the American USS Cole (October 2000) and the French super tanker Limburg (October 2002), would be referred to trials. He did not set a date for the beginning of the trial.
| Guess they weren't sorry enough... |
Meanwhile, three wanted men were killed and three securitymen injured in a shootout on the outskirts of Sanaa. The spokesman said the other two men were arrested and would be referred to courts. The incident happened when security forces were chasing the group that is accused of making sabotage acts including murder, armed burglary, highway robbery, and car plundering.
"You guys're goin' to the calaboose, and you ain't comin' out 'til you say you're sorry!"
"How about the dead guys?"
"Guess they ain't gonna say they're sorry, are they?" |
Posted by: Fred Pruitt 2003-10-25 |
