Al-Moyaad Defense Committee Calls for US to Break the Law
Are they just playing? There is no extradiction treaty with Yemen. How do they expect Moyyad to be returned when there is no legal framework. If there is a court appeal in the US, it has to be based on points of law and errors in the oiriginal trial, not on Yemeni public opinion.
November 24, 2007 – Head of the National Committee for defending al-Moayad and Zayed , Hamoud al-Dharihi, appealed Saturday the Arab League, the Organization of the Islamic Conference , and international human rights bodies to do best in order to free al-Moayad and his aide ,Mohammad Zayed .
He claimed, in a press conference, all private and government media to support and stand by them, calling, in the meantime, judges of the U.S. appeal court to not fall under the influence of U.S. intelligence reports and events of Sep.11, 2001 which had been denounced by al-Moayad and Zayed .
” We place before you the latest popular appeal issued by the parliament, all political parties and civil society and directed to U.S justice Department, State Department, U.S Embassy to Yemen ” added al-Dharhi .
He further urged the Yemeni government to expand its efforts regarding the case, indicating that the committee would resort to a popular protest strategy in case there in no good news on Monday .
For his part, the lawyer Khalid al-Anisi revealed that government banned any popular protests concerning al-Moayad and ZAyed , criticizing the case’s absence in the official media.
Spain and Egypt are scheduled to sign extradiction treaties:
Yemen, Egypt to sign criminal extradition agreement
[24 November 2007]
CAIRO, Nov. 24 (Saba) – Yemen and Egypt would sign on the sidelines of meetings of the Arab Justice Ministers in Cairo on November 26-29 a criminal extradition agreement.
The Yemeni-Egyptian Joint Technical Committee finalized in its meeting here on Saturday negotiations on a criminal extradition agreement, which would be signed by Justice Minister Ghazi
al-Aghbari and the Egyptian counterpart Mamdouh Marei.The agreement includes the possible extraditing cases after it comes into force, the reasons permit or oblige to reject criminals extradition, how to make a request and requisite documents and
information.
A Yemeni pressure group threatened on Sunday to organize a series of protests if the United States did not release two Yemenis currently imprisoned in the U.S. under terrorism charges.
“If we do not hear good news from the American appeal court in the session of Monday, November 26th, we will resort to setting a strategic plan for more popular protests,” said Shiekh Hamoud Hashem al-Therhi, chairman of the Popular Committee for Defending the Cleric Mohammed al-Moayad and his companion, Mohammed Zaid.
An American appeal court is scheduled to review the case of the two men on Monday, November 26th. In 2005, cleric al-Moayad was sentenced to 75 years in prison, while Zaid was sentenced to 45 years for conspiring to support Al-Qaeda and Hamas.
“The American judges should not be affected by intelligence reports and they should not be affected by the attacks of September11th which were condemned by both al-Moayad and Zaid,” al-Therhi told reporters in Sana’a two days before the U.S. court session.
The two Yemenis were arrested in Germany in late 2003 in a premeditated operation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Both men were lured by a Yemeni agent, who convinced al-Moayad to travel to Germany to meet an American businessman who allegedly wished to donate money to the Jihadists. Their meeting and discussions with the agents in a Frankfurt hotel were videotaped and used as evidence. Later, the German government extradited the two men to the U.S.
The pressure group said that anti-American feeling would increase if the appeal court did not acquit the two men.
“We hope that the U.S. will release al-Moayad and his companion to preserve its reputation,” said Sheikh al-Therhi, “Holding them will increase hatred against America and will undermine confidence in American justice.”
The committee also appealed to the Arab League, the Organization of Islamic Conference, and to organizations of human rights all over the world for their help in lobbying against the American government to release the two men.
This is the latest appeal by the committee after Parliament, political parties and civil society organizations made their appeals to the American Ministry of Justice, the Department of State and the American embassy in Sana’a, al-Therhi said in a press conference which was attended by the families and relatives of the imprisoned Yemenis.
Sheikh al-Therhi, a mosque leader and prominent politician in the Islamist opposition party, Islah, expressed his hopes that both Republicans and Democrats would respond positively to his appeals for the men’s release.
Lawyer Khaled al-Ansi, who participated in the defense of the two men against American lawyers in the primary court, said that the pressure group was facing obstacles from the Yemeni government. “The committee can bring people onto the streets, but we want to unite official and popular efforts,” said al-Ansi, who also runs a Sana’a based organization for defending liberties and human rights. “The committee has many cards to play but it does not wish to embarrass the Yemeni government.”
If the demonstrations and appeals do not work, the next step would be for the committee to file a lawsuit against the American government.
