SANAA, 15 February 2005 — Eleven Al-Qaeda suspects went on trial in Yemen yesterday, charged with trying to join militants battling US forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The defendants were also charged with setting up an armed group and planning militant attacks in Yemen and abroad.
“The defendants took part in setting up an armed gang, forged passports and travel documents to enable them to commit criminal acts in Yemen and abroad, which include fighting US troops in Afghanistan and Iraq,” the prosecutor said.
The men admitted to forging documents but denied the other charges. If convicted, they would be jailed but it was unclear how severe the sentences would be. The trial was adjourned until next week.
The defendants were among a group of 14 Al-Qaeda suspects who were detained for alleged involvement in militant attacks in Yemen.
Prosecutors told the court six of the eleven men had been arrested in Saudi Arabia and handed over to Yemen in different periods of time between 2001 and 2004.
Chief Prosecutor Saeed Al-Aqil told the court that the men “forged ID documents and passports to facilitate their movement and travel to commit terrorist acts in Yemen and abroad.”
The 11 suspects were among a group of 26 men detained for belonging to the Al-Qaeda terror network.
Fifteen of those suspects were set free last week due to insufficient evidence, according to a court official.
Prosecutors told the court that eight of the defendants have confessed that they had received combat 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 un-manned aircraft in eastern Yemen. Six militants, including then Yemen’s Al-Qaeda leader Abu-Ali Al-Harethi, were killed in the strike.
The suspects who have been charged included men who had joined militants fighting against the US forces in Afghanistan and Iraq, and one who fought alongside with 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. The court asked them to provide document supporting their claims.
The court’s chief judge Najeeb Al-Qaderi said he would ask the Yemeni Lawyers’ Union to send six lawyers to defend the suspects.
