SANAA, 19 January 2006 — Six tribesmen, accused of kidnapping five Italian tourists in northeastern Yemen earlier this month, appeared before a state security court in Sanaa yesterday. The six men, Ali Saleh Ubad Al-Zaidi, 24, Muryee Ali Ahmad Al-Ameri, 35, Ubad Saleh Al-Zaidi, 21, Naji Mahdi Al-Zaidi, 20, Hadi Muhammad Ali Al-Ameri, 24, and Muhammad Saleh Al-Zaidi, 30, appeared in court in handcuffs and blue prison uniforms.
Chief prosecutor Saeed Al-Aaqil read out the charges saying that the six men, all from the Al-Zaidi clan, “took part in forming an armed gang to kidnap foreigners.”
The defendants confessed to the kidnapping but pleaded not guilty on the charge of forming an armed gang.
The tribesmen freed the five Italian captives, three women and two men, on Jan. 6 after holding them hostage for five days in a mountainous village in the Marib province, about 195 km northeast of Sanaa.
Under a deal brokered by tribal dignitaries, the abductors released their hostages unharmed and gave themselves up to security forces besieging their hideout. Yemeni officials refused to give details of the deal under which the hostages were freed.
Initially, the kidnappers were demanding the release of eight clan members being held in Sanaa in connection with the killing of a police officer in the city in 2003.
Judicial sources have said that police were still pursuing two other alleged kidnappers.
Prosecutor Aaqil asked the court to use a counter-kidnapping law, issued in 1998, inflicting harsh punishments of long jail terms or death sentences for convicted abductors.
“The kidnap crimes are the worst as they are targeting development and the economic sector,” he told the court. “Such acts badly affect the development plans and harm Yemen’s international standing,” said Aaqil.
Presiding Judge Najeeb Al-Qaderi adjourned the trial until Jan. 25.
The abduction of the Italians came one day after five German hostages were freed from captivity in the eastern province of Shabwa.
