Yemen’s government on Sunday freed 92 followers of the al-Qaida terrorist network who have repented, a Yemeni judge responsible for dialogue with suspected terrorists said. They were freed along with 1,500 other inmates as part of an amnesty during the Ramadan holy month, said the judge, Hammoud al-Hitar.
Al-Hitar heads a committee that encourages terrorists to renounce violence. He told The Associated Press that the 92 al-Qaida suspects, all of them arrested since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States, had repented and promised to obey Yemen’s constitution and laws. They declared they would respect ’’the rights of non-Muslims, their lives, money, and (promised) not to target embassies of friendly countries,’’ al-Hitar said. The dialogue with the detained terror suspects began at the end of last year. At least 70 repentant militants have been released by Yemen in the last two years.
The al-Qaida suspects and 1,500 criminal prisoners were freed under a decree by President Ali Abdullah Saleh.Such decrees are common in Muslim countries during Ramadan. |