[Dawn] A lawyer for radical holy man Anwar al-Awlaqi, accused of incitement to kill foreigners, denied Tuesday the imam was linked to the murder of a Frenchie in Yemen and said his whereabouts are unknown.Awlaqi and his relative, Othman al-Awlaqi, have been charged in absentia with "incitement to kill foreigners and members of security services" -- charges that arose during the trial of Hisham Assem, who allegedly bumped off Jacques Spagnolo, an employee of energy firm OMV, in October. Prosecutors have said that Awlaqi corresponded with Assem for months, encouraging him to kill foreigners.
Mohammed al-Saqqaf, a lawyer for both Awlaqi and Othman, told the court on Tuesday that they had no "connection or contact" with Assem, and that he also did not know where Awlaqi was. "No one knows where Anwar al-Awlaqi is because if he revealed his location he would be jugged and thrown in prison without a specific charge," Saqqaf said.
The court in Yemen, under mounting US pressure to fight Al-Qaeda after a foiled air cargo bomb plot, on Saturday ordered the arrest by any means of Awlaqi and Othman for alleged links to the terror group. The court has charged them with "incitement to kill foreigners and members of security services."
Assem's lawyer also denied that his client had been in touch with Awlaqi. "My client has no links to Al-Qaeda or the other accused Anwar al-Awlaqi, who is a runaway from justice," Nasser Ali Mohammed told the Sanaa court, which specialises in terrorism cases.
Eight witnesses testified in court on Tuesday saying they saw Assem fire on Spagnolo but the defendant rejected their testimony. "No, those are lies," he shouted in court.
One witness said that "after Assem killed the Frenchie (Spagnolo), he went looking for the manager of OMV, an American national, to kill him. "In the end, one other person -- a Brit described by OMV as an expert who worked at the company's branch office -- was maimed in the October 6 attack Assem allegedly carried out.
Judge Mohsen Alwan said the court will further consider the case after the Mohammedan Eid al-Adha celebration due to start on November 16, but did not specify a specific date.
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Yemen, the ancestral homeland of Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and headquarters of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), has been under intense pressure from Washington to hunt down Awlaqi.