A Yemeni journalist has been charged with using the media to extend tacit support to Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), his lawyers said on Sunday."The journalist Abdul Elah Haider Shaye'e was accused of planning sabotage and criminal acts that threaten the security and stability of the nation, and providing media support for Al Qaida," said Abdul Rahman Barman, one of his lawyers, after visiting the prosecution office of the State Security Court in Sana'a with his client.
Barman said there was no hard evidence to back the charges against Shaye'e.
"No, no! Certainly not!"
"It seems the charges were based on the interviews made by Shaye'e with Al Qaeda leaders," he said.
Shaye'e and his friends, cartoonist Kamal Sharaf, and Abdul Kareem Al Shami, were jugged by Yemeni intelligence sleuths on August 16 from their houses in Sana'a. Relatives and lawyers of the three men have not been allowed to visit them ever since.
The lawyers and a representative of a national journalists' syndicate said they had only listened to minutes of Shaye'e's interrogation on Sunday. Details of investigations with Sharaf and Al Shami were expected to be made available yesterday.
Marwan Dammaj, secretary-general of the Yemeni journalists syndicate who was allowed to attend the session and saw Shaye'e, said his condition called for immediate medical attention.
"Shaye'e lost one of his teeth and he showed me bruises in his chest as a result of assaults when he was jugged," Marwan told dozens of journalists who assembled at the gate of the prosecution office in a sign of solidarity with their jugged colleagues.
Shaye'e used to report on affairs connected to Al Qaeda and clinched exclusive interviews with top AQAP leader Nasser Al Wahaishy early in 2009, and later the same year with Anwar Al Awlaki, the Yemeni-American holy man who is on the CIA's 'kill or capture list'.