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| Arabia |
| American on trial in Yemen probed about Al-Qaeda |
| 2010-11-12 |
| [Arab News] A 26-year old American from New Jersey came to Yemen in 2008 to study religion and language, his US lawyer said -- but ended up nabbed as an Al-Qaeda suspect nearly 18 months later and was held shackled to a police hospital bed for weeks before he allegedly tried to shoot his way out. Sharif Mobley was charged last month with killing a Yemeni soldier and wounding another during the escape attempt in March, when he allegedly convinced a guard to unshackle him, grabbed the man's gun and opened fire. Yemeni officials first mentioned Mobley publicly after the escape attempt, saying he had been rounded up with other Al-Qaeda suspects, and tried to escape while receiving treatment. But Cori Crider, his US lawyer currently in Yemen for his trial, said Mobley was held incommunicado for more than two months after his arrest in late January. Crider said Mobley was interrogated by US and Yemeni agents about his alleged links to Al-Qaeda, and beaten and blindfolded during the detention. Mobley's arrest came only weeks after the failed attack by Nigerian student Umar Farouk Abdulmutalb, who allegedly used a Sanaa language school as cover to enter the country and meet with Al-Qaeda gun-hung tough guys for training before his botched attempt to blow up an American passenger jet on Christmas Day. Since that failed attack, the world's attention has turned to Yemen as a possible destination and easy entry point for foreign beturbanned goons trying to link up with Al-Qaeda. The country hosts a number of popular religious and Arabic-language schools that attract students from around the world. Al-Qaeda's affiliate in the country grabbed credit for the failed mail bombs intercepted last month bound to the US from Yemen, reflecting how increasingly emboldened the Yemeni terror branch has become. Yemen has jugged a number of Al-Qaeda suspects, including Americans who were later released. Evidence that those jugged actually contacted Al-Qaeda is sketchy, and some were likely caught up in the intensified Yemeni search. Yemeni authorities have dropped their accusations of Mobley's alleged ties to Al-Qaeda, but the American still faces the death penalty if convicted of murder and attempted murder of his Yemeni hospital guards. |
| Posted by:Fred |