SANAA, 19 September 2005 — Five Yemenis released from the US prison in Guantanamo Bay and handed over to Yemen will face trial in their home country, a Yemeni parliamentary source said yesterday.
The source quoted Interior Minister Rashad Al-Alimi as saying during a briefing on Saturday that four of the five men were extradited by US authorities in April, May and August.
“The four men are in the custody of Yemeni police on suspicion of their links to an international terror group,” the source told Arab News, quoting Al-Alimi. The fifth suspect, who was extradited last year, is believed to have connections to drug trafficking activities.
Al-Alimi said Yemen had yet to receive the files of the extradited men and he did not provide details on charges they would face. The five Yemenis are among 25 men cleared by a US Military Administrative Review Board which considered them no longer a threat to the United States or its allies.
Last July the Yemeni government formed an adhoc committee to learn the identities of 106 Yemenis detained in Guantanamo, and to coordinate arrangements for the repatriation of those to be released.
