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| Arabia |
| Yemen defends record on terrorism, sez 172 al-Qaeda still in custody |
| 2006-02-19 |
| Yemen still holds 172 al-Qaeda suspects in its prisons including 34 who were planning to go to Iraq, the country's interior minister said, according to report by Gulf News. "We still have 172 al-Qaeda suspects in custody and security forces have been collecting information about them in joint coordination and cooperation with the states of the region. Thirty-four of them were planning to go to Iraq," said Dr Rashad Al Alimi, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior, in his speech at the 9th conference of European Police in Berlin on Wednesday. "The security authorities foiled nine terror operations during the period from 2002 to 2005," the minister said. "And 130 al-Qaeda suspects have already been put on trial," he added in his speech, carried by the Yemeni media yesterday. A group of 69 men, most of whom are al-Qaeda suspects, were arrested while infiltrating from the neighboring Saudi Arabia to Yemen during 2005. The official confirmed that his country had handed over the 69 men to Saudi Arabia, according to security agreements between the two countries. "Some of those 69 men were planning to go to Iraq," he said. The minister however did not make it clear whether the 172 al Qaeda suspects still being held include the 23 al Qaeda fugitives who escaped earlier this month from a Sana'a prison. Al Alimi said security authorities in his country had made progress in the war on terror despite limited resources of security, and "poverty and unemployment form a good environment for breeding terrorism and extremism." The official called on all states to adopt a comprehensive strategy for fighting terror and the reasons behind it. "Adopting a strategy to combat terrorism must have a comprehensive look which takes into consideration combating poverty, political reforms, drying sources of extremism, smuggling, illegal immigration in all countries," the official said. Underscoring Yemen's bid to combat terrorism, Alimi said security forces stopped at least nine terrorist operations between 2002 and 2005, the UPI news agency reported. The Yemeni official stressed the need to adopt a comprehensive anti-terror strategy that would focus on development issues, combating poverty, introducing political economic reforms and tackling the sources of extremism. He said Yemen took pre-emptive measures in combating terrorism before 9-11, including tightening official control over religious schools and their curricula, noting that uncontrolled teaching at religious institutes can help incite extremism and mobilize the youth through misleading ideas. Al Alimi also pointed out that Yemen introduced laws to increase supervision over money transfers and the sources of financing of civilian associations and institutions. He said dialogue with Muslim extremists who were not involved in any violence was fruitful in bringing them back to the moderate path of Islam. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |