Sanaa: A Yemeni state security court began yesterday the trial of three young men accused of spying for Israel.
The prosecution charged the three Yemenis, aged between 23 and 26, with “establishing contacts with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and offering to work as agents for Mossad intelligence agency.”
They are also accused of operating under a fake organization called the “Islamic Jihad of Yemen” and spreading false statements and news and claims of responsibility for attacks on embassies and foreign interests in Yemen last year.
Prosecutors said the group’s leader Bassam Abdullah Haidari, 26, had sent letters by email to the Israeli prime minister, offering to work for Mossad.
They said the defendants had received a positive reply from Israeli officials, who allegedly welcomed the offer for collaboration.
Haidari and the two other defendants, Emad Ali Raimi, 23, and Ali Abdullah Mahfal, 24, denied the charges and asked the court to appoint a lawyer for them.
Presiding judge Muhssien Alwan adjourned the trial until Jan. 17.
The three men were part of a group of six suspects, who were arrested in October over alleged links to Mossad. The three others were released by police for lack of evidence. Announcing the arrests, Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh said police had dismantled a “terrorist cell linked to the Israeli intelligence services.”
The arrests followed the bombing of the US embassy in Sanaa in September, the responsibility for which was later claimed by Al-Qaeda.
In another development, the security court yesterday adjourned the trial of four alleged members of an Al-Qaeda cell, including a 15-year-old, charged with plotting “terror” acts and possessing explosives. The group is accused of conspiring to attack tourists and government facilities to avenge the killing by security forces of another militant, Hamza Kaithi.
Mohammed Saadi, 24, Issam Gheilan, 24, Munir Bouni, 23, and Osama Saadi, 15, confessed to possessing a rocket launcher, an AK-47 assault rifle, a pistol and ammunition, in addition to a personal computer.
It has appointed a lawyer for the four following a request by Bouni at a previous hearing on Jan. 3 when he denied all charges, including his statement to the police.
The trial began last Nov. 25 at the same time as the trial of another four Yemenis charged with plotting to form an armed group with the intention of attacking tourists, hotels and government installations.
