SANAA, 25 July 2004 — Two prosecutors handling the trial of 14 suspects charged with terrorism, including the bombing of a French oil tanker off Yemen’s coast in 2002, walked out of the courtroom yesterday in protest against insulting remarks by the defendants.
Chief prosecutor Saeed Al-Aqil and his assistant Ali Al-Samit left the court after enduring a stream of criticism and insults from the suspects, who said the prosecution has been hampering decisions taken earlier by the court to enhance their conditions in detention.
The suspects also lambasted journalists as agents and threatened to attack them upon their release from jail.
Fawaz Yahya Al-Rabyee, 27, a main suspect wanted by US authorities over suspected links to the Al-Qaeda network accused Al-Aqil of allowing US officers to interrogate the suspects.
Immediately after prosecutors walked out, the court’s chief judge Ahmad Al-Jurmozi left the courtroom without adjourning the hearing, in an apparent protest against the prosecutors’ behavior.
The defendants went on trial on May 29 over alleged involvement in terrorist attacks, including the October 2002 bombing of a French oil supertanker Limburg off the Arab country’s southeastern coast. They were also charged with plotting to assassinate US Ambassador Edmund J. Hull.
During yesterday’s three-hour session, the prosecution presented evidence against the suspects, including a lease contract for a house allegedly used by the suspects to prepare the boat that was later used in the bombing of the tanker.
According to prosecutors, five of the suspects bought a small boat and loaded it with more than 1,200 kilos of TNT and C-4 explosives. The ship was attacked by the boat as it entered the Al-Dhabba oil exporting harbor, on the Arabian Sea. One Bulgarian crew member was killed.
Among the evidence presented to court was a contract on purchasing a truck used in transporting the explosives to the safe house, and fake military ID cards used by two of the defendants during arrangements for the bombing.
Prosecutors also presented a receipt of 1.7 million rials (about $9,500) paid by one of the suspects to a local company for the nine-meter-long fiberglass boat that was used in the attack.
When the chief judge asked them about the evidence, the suspects refused to answer and asked for their lawyers to speak for them.
The hearing was attended by only one defense lawyer, while the 13 others are boycotting the trial in protest against restrictions on their right to review their clients files. No date was set for the next session.
Court sources said they expected the prosecution and defense to return and the session to be resumed early next week on assurances from the judge that there would be more order in the court and that defense lawyers would have full access to files.
The lawyers were appointed by the 10 Yemenis in June after a previous defense team for all 15 accused quit the trial saying the court did not give them enough resources or time to prepare for the case.
