SANAA, 10 March 2005 — A state security court yesterday ended hearings in the trial of 11 alleged Al-Qaeda supporters accused of planning to carry out “criminal acts” in Yemen and abroad, and set March 21 for announcing the verdicts.
The defendants, all Yemenis, went on trial on Feb. 14. The charges against them include possession of arms and explosives and forging documents and passports.
The defense argued the case was based on “weak charges”, and asked the court to acquit the defendants.
“The prosecution failed to provide evidence that our clients had involvement in planning or carrying out any terror acts in Yemen or any other country,” defense lawyer Muhammad Al-Ezzani told the court. “The whole case is based on weak and fabricated charges,” he said.
The men are charged with “taking part in a criminal agreement to form an armed group to carry out criminal acts inside and outside the country.”
Prosecutors told the court the defendants, aged between 24 and 35, had tried to join militants battling US forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.
All the men have pleaded not guilty, saying that they were even not acquainted with each other.
According to prosecutors, six of the eleven men had been handed over to Yemeni authorities by Saudi Arabia between 2001 and 2004.
Chief prosecutor Saeed Al-Aqil said the men forged identification documents and passports to facilitate their movement and travel to commit terrorist acts in Yemen and abroad. Nine of the defendants have admitted to forging documents.
The 11 suspects were among a group of 26 men were detained for belonging to the Al-Qaeda terror network. Fifteen of those suspects were set free before the trial due to insufficient evidence.
Prosecutors told the court that eight of the defendants have confessed that they had received military training in Afghanistan camps run by Al-Qaeda between 1996 and 2001.
Among the defendants was Abdul Raouf Nassib, 30, the only survivor of the November 2002 missile attack by a US unmanned aircraft in eastern Yemen.
Six militants, including the head of Al-Qaeda in Yemen, Abu Ali Al-Harithi, were killed in the strike.
The defendants also included men who had joined militants fighting against the US forces in Afghanistan and Iraq, and one who fought with Islamic rebel groups in Chechnya.
Six men claimed they had already been tried in Saudi Arabia and some of them allegedly served prison terms for the same charges.
This was the third group of militants put on trial in Yemen since the country joined the US-led war on terrorism.
On Feb. 26, the same court overturned the death sentence against one of the suspects convicted for the October 2000 bombing attack on the US Navy destroyer USS Cole, but upheld the death verdict against another.
