SANAA, 27 June 2007 — A Yemeni state security court began yesterday the trial of a Yemeni man accused of distributing false documents alleging that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Kuwait were planning to finance terrorists to strike tourist sites in Egypt.
Hamad Ali Hamad Al-Dhahouk, 65, who was present in court at the start of the trial, is accused of having supplied Egyptian diplomats in Sanaa with a “misleading and untrue” document detailing the alleged conspiracy by the governments of Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.
The document, that was allegedly a report prepared by the Saudi intelligence services, stated that the training of attackers was arranged in Yemen with the permission of the Yemeni government.
Eshaq said the defendant tried to sell the document “motivated by revenge” after Saudi authorities stripped him of Saudi nationality in 1998. He said the defendant’s acts “could damage Yemen’s diplomatic and political position and its relations with Egypt.”
Al-Dhahouk denied the charge, saying it was fabricated. He told the court he got the report from the archive of the Saudi Cabinet. He also said he was a brigadier general in the Saudi army before he was dismissed in 1998.
Prosecutors said the Egyptian Embassy in Sanaa had reported the details of Al-Dhahouk’s meetings with the diplomat to the Yemeni National Security Agency. He was arrested in Sanaa late in May.
Presiding Judge Najeeb Al-Qadri adjourned the trial until July 12 for the defense lawyer to prepare his response.
