DOHA, 6 March 2003 — Yemen slammed yesterday US charges that two Yemenis held in Germany, including a prominent cleric, supported Al-Qaeda and Hamas, and demanded that they be returned home.
The two men were charged with providing millions of dollars, weapons and recruits to Al-Qaeda and Palestinian group Hamas at a US court on Tuesday, about two months after their arrest in Germany.
“He is innocent. It is illogical that a Yemeni with $20 million would hand it to Osama Bin Laden,” a Yemeni official told Reuters on the sidelines of a summit of the Organization of the Islamic Conference in the Qatari capital Doha.
He was referring to Sheikh Mohammed Ali Hasan Al-Moayad who was arrested along with his aide, Mohammed Mohsen Yahya Zayed, in Frankfurt on a US request on Jan. 10.
“We reaffirm our call to hand him to Yemeni authorities. If the United States has any concrete evidence, it should present it to the Yemeni authorities,” the official said.
US officials said on Tuesday they had asked Germany to extradite the two men. Yemen had asked Germany to repatriate the men, saying it would prosecute them if there was evidence against them.
