Armies of Liberation

United Nations Secretary and the human right organizations

On behalf of the Mr. Baoom family, I , Dr. Saba, the daughter of the political prisoner , the prisoner of thoughts Mr. Hassan Ahmed Baoom, the prisoner in the Intelligence prison , in Sana’a – Yemen Arab Republic , and his colleagues prisoners, in the same prison, my father and his collogues have been kidnapped since April 2008, such act done by the authorities of Yemen Arab Republic.

My father is detained in a cell measured 2 meters , in under ground cells, he is now 70 years , and his medical status is serious, he is suffering from Diabetes ,hypertension , serious blockage in coronary arteries and short activity of the Kidneys.

My father and his colleagues illegal arrest , was due to their political peaceful activities , and their struggle to get the rights and free way of living of the people of South Yemen , and to re gain back all the right of the people. We are requesting you in the name of Human rights to justify the demands of the people.

We are requesting you to help in releasing my Father and his collogues , with the Yemen authorities, my Father is facing a serious medical status, additional to that we are requesting to stop all illegal arrest, accusation and illegal prosecutions against political peaceful activities.

your support highly appreciated

Dr. Saba Baoom

M&C: Sana’a, Yemen - A state security court in Sana’a imposed a media gag order Monday in the trial of three opposition leaders charged with stirring up violent protests in southern Yemen earlier this year.

Presiding judge Muhssien Alwan issued the order at the start of the second hearing into the case, saying that the gag order applied to both local and foreign media.

Police officers guarding the court’s gate prevented journalists from entering even before the judge issued the ban. When the highly publicized trial began on May 28, journalists were allowed into the courtroom.

Hassan Baoum, Yahya al-Shouaibi and Ali al-Gharib, all senior members of the opposition Yemeni Socialist Party, are charged with instigating civil disorder.

Protests and riots hit several southern Yemeni cities where disgruntled youths took to the streets in April to protest what they called discriminatory army recruiting policies against southerners.

The Yemeni authorities charge the three men incited violent protests and riots that hit several southern cities.

At least 13 people were killed and more than 70 were injured in clashes with security forces.

I have 26 killed, hundreds injured and several hundred imprisoned.

Update 1: Defense withdraws, and Baoum admits to calling for secesssion.

Sahwa Net –The defense of three political prisoners withdrew from the court on Monday as it decided imposing media ban in the trial. Journalists were prevented from attending the trial even before the judge issued the ban.

The three senior leaders of the Yemeni Social Party, Hassan Ba Oam, Yahya al-Shouaibi and Ali al-Gharib are charged with inciting violent protests and riots that hit several southern cities in this year . In the hearing, Hassan Ba Oam admitted that he had called to secession, and refusing Yemen’s regime and the trial.

Update 2: Two of three defense withdrew, one is a journalist.

The Ruling Party website (I guess the ban doesn’t apply to them.) The Court also decided banning publication that would affect the process of justice and permitting publication of only proceedings of the trial. The body defending the defendants withdrew from the court except the defence lawyer of defendant Hassan Baoum.

Defendant Ali Haitham al-Gharib claimed that this charge is a publication charge and that he is a journalist, demanding that his file be sent to the Press Prosecution but the chairman of prosecution replied to the defendant statement that the crime is against the security of the state.

(Read on …)

Fresh on the heels of the politicized trial of Yemeni journalist Abdulkarim al-Khaiwani, sentenced to six years for “an article liable to demoralize the military”, comes the conviction of Fahd al-Qarni, COMEDIAN. Seriously. From HAMSA’s C.R.I.M.E. report:

Fahd Al-Qarani faced the judge in the southern Yemeni city of Taiz. The nationally-beloved comedian-singer (dubbed by some the Adam Sandler of Yemen) was being charged by the government for “insulting Yemen’s president, Ali Abdullah Saleh.” To prove their case, prosecutors played a tape of one of his sketches. The entire courtroom burst out laughing – and prosecutors rushed to demand a recess as police intervened.

BTW, al-Qarni was given the opportunity to apologize to the ever sensitive President Saleh in order to gain his freedom. Al-Qarni refused saying, “I will not kneel.”

Clearly, Al-Qarani is a pretty funny guy. Because much of Yemen’s population is illiterate, his recordings reach a much wider audience than opposition newspapers, and his concerts draw thousands of spectators. One of Al-Qarani’s most popular sketches features a taxi driver who, though never named, speaks in a dead-on imitation of President Saleh. The skit is both hilarious and blunt: Yemen is being taken for a ride by a reckless driver.

While Yemeni crowds were laughing – inside and outside of courtrooms – President Saleh was not. After repeated attempts to silence Al-Qarani, the government won its case on July 9, as the comic was sentenced to 18 months in jail plus a $2,500 fine. But Al-Qarani seems to be relishing the notoriety of being sent to jail for being too funny. He called on his fans to come celebrate the verdict, and hundreds poured out into the streets demanding his release and a commitment by the government to protect freedom of expression.

In the showdown between Saleh and Al-Qarani, it remains to be seen who will get the last laugh.

Mareb Press

A Yemeni popular signer was sentenced to one year and half in prison on Wednesday for allegedly abusing senior officials including head of the state the president Ali Abdullah Saleh.

The primary court in Taiz province sentenced the comedian Fahd al-Qarni to one year and half in jail and fined him about 500.000 Yemeni rial (300.000 for the ruling party, and 200.000 for the cultural office in Taiz Governorate).

“The verdict will add a real dimension for my peaceful struggle,” Al-Qarni said commenting on the court verdict. He called the people to congratulate him.

The court session was held at early 6:30 in the morning before the working hours. The security force blocked all the streets leading to the court hall.

After the issue of the verdict, a number of citizens gathered protesting against the al-Qanri court verdict.

The riot police and the central security forces opened fired to disperse the protesters, the local sources said.

The sources added the police men beat the protesters including Faud Dahaba, Member of Parliament and a number of journalists.

The police men also arrested a number of journalists.

Al-Qarni was arrested on March 1 for allegedly abusing senior officials and he was also accused of triggering secession and of threatening the national unity in his latest cassettes. Al Qarni has been criticizing the policy of the government through his ironic songs.

The verdict was altered after it was rendered to include the phrase “expedited implementation”, which prohibits appeal and release pending appeal. Who is disrespecting the judiciary now?

Mareb Press

The security men prevented today, Tuesday, journalists and human rights activists from holding a sit-in in front of the High Judiciary Council in Sana’a.

The police men blockade the streets leading to the ministry of judiciary and prevented the protesters from reaching the ministry.

A number of representatives from the Sisters’ Arab Forum for Human Rights, the Dialogue Forum, the Change Organization for the Human Rights and Liberties, the Media Women Forum and the Democratic Social Forum, participated in the sit-in which was held later before the Yemeni Journalists Syndicate.

The protesters demanded an investigation of the change of the court verdict against the opposition journalist Abdul Karim al-Khaiwani, editor in chief of Al Shoura newspaper who was sentenced to 6 years in prison by the Yemeni State Security Court.
In their letter directed to the chairman of the High Judiciary Council, Esam al-Samawi, they demanded an investigation of the change of the court verdict against al-Khaiwani, saying we feel surprised that a point about the immediate implementation of the verdict was added to the court verdict.

Editor Abdel Karim Al-Khaiwani has been regularly targeted by the authorities and was arrested and charged in 2004, 2006 and 2007. These judicial proceedings are the latest and most serious in a long series of cases brought against the Editor. Editor Al-Khaiwani is being tried as a terror suspect rather than for a publishing crime for writing about the war in Sa’ada province.

Yemen Observer:

A number of press journalists have filed a lawsuit against the Yemeni Journalists Syndicate (YJS) represented by the head of the syndicate, his agents, the secretary-general, his aides and members of the executive council, demanding an end to the syndicate and the closure of its headquarters.

The syndicate’s council member Marwan Damaj said that the syndicate grants membership to those who comply with its requirements: holding a university degree and being an editor-level employee rather than a technician in a newspaper. “It is the right of any person to resort to the judiciary, and we do not prevent any person from pursuing this right,” Damaj stated.

The lawsuit filed at the court demanded to speed the judicial procedure to the Ministry of Social Affairs and to force it to form a preparatory committee and an internal system of the syndicate according to the Press and Publications Law No. 25 of 1990 and under judicial supervision of the court.

The journalists who filed the lawsuit against the YJS are Ismail Abdel-Hafiz al-Absi, Abdul Hakim Tarsh al-Mogales, Ahmad al-Makosh, Ahmad Ghailan, Fadhel Saleh, Mohammad Dahan, Mohammad al-Gofi, Abdul-Qader al-Shater, Hanna Me’yad and others. They are known in the press field as they claimed in the lawsuit, and have all legal conditions to obtain journalist profession cards stipulated by the press law and which can be obtained through the YJS. The YJS, through what has been termed an alleged internal regulation, revised the definition of the journalist profession and the press, for the definition of the YJS was partially contrary to the definitions, meanings and connotations specified in the press law, the lawsuit claimed.

Update: Elbaneh is being held in the same jail he escaped from previously, I believe. My question today is, did they ever close up the tunnel?

Original post: Who was it who pretended to be in jail? Oh yes, it was convicted Limburgh bomber Abu Bakr al-Raibee who the security forces used to dress up in prison clothes to bring him from his home to court. According to his father, Abu Bakr never spent a day in jail despite a ten year sentence because he had a deal with President Saleh, just as Elbaneh claims to. And maybe Elbaneh is behind bars, but after so much duplicity on the part of the Yemeni regime, its difficult to have any real faith in their assurances. Jaber Elbaneh is an American citizen who attended the al-Farouk training camp in Afghanistan along with six of his friends from Lackawanna, New York. The six eventually all pled guilty to terror related charges upon their return to the US. Elbaneh went to Yemen.

Local News: Al-Bana’s trial postponed Tuesday 03 June 2008 / Mareb Press

A Yemeni appealing court postponed today the trial of the 36 men accused of carrying out terrorist attacks against Yemeni-western interests and trying to bomb oil installations in Hadramout and Marib in September 2006.

In the session, the lawyer of Jabr al-Bana, one of the defendants, demanded the court to acquit al-Bana and release him on bail.

“The Yemeni constitution gives al-Bana the right to continue his trial outside the prison because he has provided the court with the necessary guarantee,” the lawyer said.

(Read on …)

This is a good comprehensive article on the trial of Baoum and the southern civil unrest where it remains illegal to chant slagans, in the north or in the south.

SANA’A, May 30 (The National)- Amid a crowd of opposition party members, democracy activists and lawyers, three senior members of the Yemen Socialist Party went on trial at the state security court yesterday.

(Read on …)

IHT

Yemen puts Qaeda operative back in jail

Reuters
Monday, May 19, 2008
SANA, Yemen: A Yemeni-American on the FBI’s most-wanted list of terror suspects was jailed in Yemen after an appeals court upheld his 10-year prison sentence, officials said Monday.

(Read on …)

Reuters

SANAA (Reuters) - Four Shi’ite rebels were sentenced to death on Monday after a Yemeni court convicted them of killing two soldiers, a court source said.

Three of the rebels were sentenced in their absence, the source told Reuters.

The rebels killed the soldiers when they ambushed an army patrol in 2007.

Fighting in the northern province of Saada between rebels led by Abdul Malik al-Houthi and the army has flared intermittently since 2004. Hundreds of people have been killed and thousands have fled their homes.

Yemeni officials say the rebels, who belong to the Zaydi sect of Shi’ite Islam, want to return to a form of clerical rule prevalent until the 1960s.

The rebels, who want Zaydi schools and oppose the government’s alliance with the United States, say they are defending their villages against what they call government aggression.

Qatari mediators returned to Yemen earlier this month in an attempt to salvage a truce brought to the verge of collapse by a mosque bombing that killed 15 people. Houthi denies government accusations that his followers were behind the attack.

RFERL

Meanwhile, a Yemeni state security court of appeals this week reduced a jail term for a national convicted of trying to go to Iraq for jihad. Bashir Muhammad Nu’man was sentenced last week to five years in prison for using a forged passport to travel to Syria with the intention of joining Al-Qaeda. The appeals court reduced the sentence to two years in prison for Nu’man, who was said to have been arrested in Syria and extradited to Yemen in February 2007, reportedly without offering any explanation….

Some neighboring states have taken the initiative to secure their borders with Iraq. Indeed, it does not appear that Arab foreign fighters have had any success in crossing the Kuwaiti, Saudi, or Jordanian borders into Iraq.

Syria has long been considered the main access point for foreign fighters, and despite some claims that the Syrian authorities are taking steps to control that flow, it is clearly not doing enough. Likewise, Iran has been reported to be another entry point for foreign fighters, particularly for Arabs entering Iraq from Afghanistan. Until Iraq can improve security along its porous borders with Iran and Syria, the problem will remain a major impediment to Iraqi security for years to come.

yay!!!

SANA’A, NewsYemen

The West Sana’a Court terminated on Saturday the decision of Ministry of Information to cancel the license of al-Wasat independent weekly and fined Minister of Information YR 50,000 ($250).

The Ministry of Information decided a month ago to cancel the license of al-Wasat claiming the paper published materials against the national unity and Yemeni’s ties with some countries. The Ministry has claimed the Law of Press and Publication allows it to take such a decision, but the editor of al-Wasat Jamal and Amer along with Yemeni Journalists Syndicate (YJS) and press freedom advocates have struggled against the decision which they said “has not legal base”.

Information Minister lacks jurisdiction: court

Sana’a, Yemen - A Yemeni court on Saturday annulled a decree by Information Minister Hassan al-Lawzi to close one of the country’s top opposition newspapers. The minister had issued a decree cancelling the licence of the al- Wasat weekly on April 5, citing violations against “national unity.”

The decree had said the withdrawal of the paper’s licence was “due to its publication of materials prohibited by the law and against the national unity.”

But now Chief judge of the West Sana’a Court Muhammad al-Qadhi said the minister “lacked jurisdiction to cancel the newspaper’s licence.”

(Read on …)

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) today called upon Yemeni President, Ali Abdullah Saleh, to intervene to defend journalists and independent media in the wake of deteriorating conditions for press freedom in the country.

The IFJ and its affiliate, the Yemeni Journalists Syndicate (YJS), are particularly concerned about the trial of journalist, Abdel Karim Al Khaiwani, charged with being a member of a terrorist network. The trial has just completed and a verdict is due to be announced in two weeks.

The prosecution failed to establish that Al Khaiwani had direct contacts with a Zaidi Islamist leader. Furthermore, the photographs he received from him through an associate, were necessary for his work as a professional journalist. The Yemeni Journalists’ Syndicate fear that Al Khaiwani, a well-known and respected professional journalist, has been chosen as a scapegoat to intimidate those in media who are critical of the government.

“For democracy to thrive in Yemen you must ensure free media and an independent judiciary”, says Aidan White, Secretary General of the IFJ in his letter to President Saleh. The IFJ warns that recent actions compromise these two pillars of democracy, noting that the Ministry of Information decision to cancel the license of Al-Wasat newspaper “sets a dangerous precedent for violations of the Yemen Constitution with regard to media work.”

The IFJ has also taken up the case of the opposition news website Aleshtaraki.net, which has been blocked by the government for the fourth time this year. The web-site should be allowed to function freely and other obstacles to media freedom should be removed says the IFJ in its appeal to President Saleh. “This censorship,” says White, is “part of a coordinated policy of intimidation and attacks on independent and opposition media work.”

For more information contact the IFJ at + 32 2 235 2207
The IFJ represents over 600,000 journalists in 120 countries worldwide

Yemen Times

SANA’A, April 27 — “I will not kneel and beg for forgiveness,” said 34-year-old Fahad Al-Qarni in his first hearing session at court in Taiz on Wednesday, April 26, responding to a request that he give a written apology to the General People’s Congress in order to be released. Al-Qarni, who is a singer and member of the media department in the Islamic opposition party Islah, was arrested on the first week of April by members of Taiz political security as he was heading to a festival in Aden. He is facing many charges, including motivating people to carry out armed revolt, resisting the government system and calling for revolution and secession. He also insulted in performances the ruling party as well as President Ali Abdullah Saleh publicly by referring to him as “not trustworthy” and that “he and his officials are corrupt, betrayers, thieves, and that they are a gang together.”

Al-Qarni refused to apologize, saying that he did not do anything that deserved an apology. The Attorney General’s Office ordered that he be detained in the Central Security Jail for seven days. “These charges are not right, because I have never asked the people to rise up against the Yemeni government, and I do respect the unity between the south and the north,” He stated.

(Read on …)

al-Motamar

Almotamar.net - The Specialised Criminal Court on Tuesday fixed the date of one month from today for announcing the sentence against the persons accused of forming an armed gang for killing and sabotage and attacking security institutions (Sana’a 2nd Cell).

In the sitting of the court held Tuesday under chairmanship of Judge Muhsin Alwan, Head of the First Instance Court, the prosecution presented its final presentation and asked the severest sentence legally stipulated against the accused members of the gang.

The presentation mentioned that the defendants had participated in formation of an armed gang for killing, sabotage and attacking security and military institutions by using explosive charges in addition to putting poisons in camps water tanks.

The lawyer of the victims’ families, the killed Majors Abdulgfhani al-Maamari and Yahya Rawee, presented his final statement and requested the execution of the defendants. The defence body of defendant Abdulkarim al-Khaiwani presented also the closing defence and asked the court to acquit their client from charges against him.

At the end of the lawyers reading the closing statement the journalist Mohammed al-Maqaleh bust into noisy laughter and when the court asked him about the reason of his laughter he continued his laughing and ridicule of the trial saying it was a farce. The court decided sending hi to prosecution for interrogation due to his ridiculing the court and violation of the sitting as well as insulting the judiciary.

Death sentence to the accused of university bomb
Monday, 21-April-2008

Almotamar.net - The Specialised First Instance Criminal Court chaired by Judge Muhsin Alwan on Monday condemned Mohammed Ahmed Hassan al-Wajieh who is accused of throwing a bomb at a group of citizens near the Sana’a University and resulted in killing one person and injury of 25 others.

The preliminary verdict read out by Judge Alwan on Monday included condemnation of the accused and punishing him with death sentence and has to compensate the victims. The prosecution charged the accused of killing and intending the killing by hurling a grenade at a buffet near the university on 2 February resulting in the killing of one person and injury of 25 others.

Meanwhile the appeals section of the court decided to fix the date of 12 May 2008 for reading out the judgment against Saleh Mohammed al-Ammary, accused of attacking the American embassy in Sana’a.

(Read on …)

al-Motamar

Almotamar.net - Specialised Appeals Court in Yemen on Sunday postponed a sitting for trying 36 defendants of forming an armed gang meant for targeting oil installations to the 18th on next May.

Today’s sitting of the court chaired by Judge Mohammed al-Hakimi witnessed the defendants’ attempt to create disorder inside the court hall while the defence lawyer was reading out their replies to the prosecution appeal. That has forced the chairman of the court to adjourn the sitting until 18 of next may.

On the other hand the Specialised First Instance Court headed by Judge Muhsin Alwan held its sitting Sunday to declare the sentence against two persons accused of highway robbery that resulted in the killing of Mujahid Hizam al-Abyadh as the two accused persons tried to steal his car on the road Rabat-Al-Qalaa, Yarim district.

The sentence stipulated the execution of the condemned Ismael Ali Ahmed Hassan and Ahmed Abdeh Ali Atta and the return of the stolen to their owners. Security forces had arrested the accused at the end of April 2007.

Yemen executes two over banditry

[21 April 2008]

SANA’A, April 21 (Saba) – Yemen’s Primary Specialist Court has delivered its rulings on two Yemeni brigands, Ismaeel Ali Ahmed Hussein and Ahmed Abdu Ali, the state-run 26sep.net has said.

The two were sentenced to death.

(Read on …)

You can call it a puppy, but you can’t make it bark.

Almotamar.net - The Sepcialised First Instance Criminal court decided Tuesday fixing the date of 24 April 2008 for final presentations in the case of the Sana’a 2nd terrorist cell in which 14 persons are accused, among them two women.

In the sitting held today under chairmanship of Judge Mujsin Mohammed Alwan the court listened to reply of the prosecution on defences presented by the defence group for the defendant Abdulkarim al-Khaiwani in which the prosecution mentioned that the measures of arrest and inspection were conducted according to legal measures and the evidence the prosecution presented against the defendant al-Khaiwani of communications and phone calls proves his connection to sabotage gangs. The reply mentioned that defendant al-Khaiwani was entrusted with the media side of the Houthi insurgence movement.

Representative of the attorney general indicated that the prosecution presented substantial evidence on condemnation of al-Khaiwani, demanding for not accepting the defence presented by the defence group.

SANA’A, NewsYemen

Representative of the General Prosecution said Yemen’s request to Interpol to hunt Yahya al-Houthi, brother of rebels leader in Sa’ada Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, is still valid.

This statement came at the State Security Specialized Court’s session on Tuesday in case of the so-called “Sana’a Second Terrorist Cell” suspected of forming an armed gang to carry out criminal acts and destabilize the country in support of al-Houthi.

The representative of PS accused the suspects including journalist al-Khiwani of coordination to form an armed gang through calls and SMS messages from and to al-Khiwani’s cell phone.

The defense said al-Khiwani was accused of possessing a CD and documents about war in Sa’ada between the army and rebels. “The CD and documents are not adequate evidence that al-Khiwani is involved in forming any armed gang as the General Prosecution claimed,” said the lawyer Nabil al-Mohamadi. He said al-Khiwani has got such materials as a journalist according to law and constitution.

“How can the government accuse al-Khiwani of forming an armed gang to support al-Houthi as it is seeking to have a deal with al-Houthi?” al-Mohamadi asked the court.
After arguments, the court has appointed April 29 for final session to issue the verdict.

Almotamar.net - The Specialised Criminal Court in Yemen approved Tuesday a first instance judgment giving a drugs smuggler 25 years in prison and 3 years imprisonment to another person condemned of his forging official signatures.

In the court sitting chaired by Judge Mohammed Hussein al-Hakimi, head of the court, the court approved the primary verdict against Abdullah Hadi Ayfan accused of transferring and possession of 123 kg of drugs.

The first instance court passed its decision on Abdullah Ayfan giving him 25 years imprisonment and confiscation and destruction of the drugs quantity. Security men have captured Ayfan in the mind of last year in Saada governorate in a car and in possession of 123kg of drugs before he could manage to smuggle the quantity to Saudi Arabia.

The court also endorsed a first instance verdict of three years imprisonment given to defendant Lutf Ali Hamoud al-Salami for confirmed condemnation of forging signature of the general prosecutor, the chairman of criminal prosecution Saeed al-A’aqil.

It is to be mentioned that al-0Salami was accused of forging signature and stamp of the general prosecutor for the purpose of raising money for prisoners aimed at deceit.

Trial resumes. Jaber says he didnt plot to blow the facilities. Then there’s Tharbani, bin Shamlan’s security guard and Saleh’s cousin who was acquited already despite much fanfare the days before the 2006 election.

Lawyer demands to clear FBI’s most-wanted, Alsahwa.net

March 30, 2008 – Lawyer of Jaber al-Bana’a , the suspect of bombing an oil installation in Marib and the FBI’s most wanted, demanded to aquit his client.

“If the prosecution knows that al-Bana’a was not involved in the case, then it is better to clear him” added the lawyer Abdul-Aziz al-Smawi.

In the hearing headed by Judge Mohammad al-Hakimi, al-Smawi accused the court of working to please outside parties, indicating that other countries no longer accept the United States’ demands. “They woke up” commented he.

Al-Bana who was sentenced to 10 years by a Yemeni court for his connection with terrorism, was released on commercial bail on March 9.

Yemen Post

The State Specialized Penal Court resumes today the trails of Al-Qaeda Cell accused of planning terrorist acts and targeting oil facilities in Mareb and Hadramout late in 2006.

The trial comes after the American Embassy in Sana’a blamed the organization for the recent attack on the Embassy using Hown-mortar shells which missed their way and fell in nearby July 7 school.

Meanwhile, Interior Ministry denied any link of Al-Qaeda Organization with July 7 incident and hinted the Embassy was not a target for the attack.

In a symposium organized by Future Studies Center last week, the guests spoke about the current position of Al-Qaeda Organization in Yemen. Saeed Al-Jumhi, author of ‘Al-Qaeda Organization – the Origin and the Intellectual Background’ published last year stressed the danger stems from people who recruit and produce the sleeping cells.

Chief Editor of News yemen website Nabil Al-Soufi pointed out that none is waging a real military war with Al-Qaeda and it is a matter of settlements. He stressed that Al-Qaeda attacks in Yemen affect the country but not America and hinted the authorities are conniving with the organization for achieving certain ends.

In related news, Najeeb Mohammed Abdu, known also as Abu Hafsah and the guard Aden-Abyan Islamic Army leader Khalid Muhb Al-Nabi is still in Aden’s Al-Naqeeb hospital meeting treatment after being injured in exchange of fire with security men.

19 billionYR is about 100,000,000 US, thats the deposits “lost”.

al-Sahwa

March 29, 2008 – A special penal court issued a decision of releasing the chairman of the Watani Bank, Dr. Ahmed al-Hamdani, on bail of YR one billion. The court headed by Judge Mohammad al-Hakimi also issued a decision of not allowing al-Hamdani to leave the country until his case is completely ended. Al-Hamdani and others are accused of squandering clients’ YR 19 billion in bank deposits.

Yemen Times:

The decision to free Al-Hamdani, who once held several ministerial positions, including minister of Agriculture & Irrigation, was issued on condition that the court resume his case on April 19, 2008. Al-Hamdani was arrested while attempting to flee the country after his bank declared bankruptcy in 2005, the first to do so in Yemen. He was then transferred to court after being charged with deceiving depositors, granting loans to irresponsible contractors and wasting nearly YR 20 billion from depositors’ funds. Similar charges were faced by other Watani bank management members, who were also released on bail.

At the most recent hearing, the prosecution provided a list of 292 debtors to the bank, who gave no guarantees yet they pay the money back. The debtors took loans amounting to YR 132,231,000.

The committee in charge of investigating the bank, after the Central Bank of Yemen (CBY) took control of it in late 2005 when it failed to fulfill its financial obligations, distributed nearly YR 6.5 billion, accounting for 39 percent of the bank’s total debts and deposits, to depositors. The court of appeals’ preliminary section sentenced Al-Hamdani in March 2006 to two years in prison and other management members to eight months each, but the defendants appealed the verdict.

In June 2005, deposits of customers and other banks in Watani bank totaled YR 22,604 million, while contractor debts did not exceed one third of the sum, contrary to the bank’s announcement that unpaid debts resulted in its bankruptcy.

Statistics released by the bank prior to its closure revealed that interest for the first half of 2005 amounted to YR 149 million. 34% is the liquidity rate at the bank, 8.93% is the bank’s capital efficiency rate and 25% is its liquidity rate in the Central Bank of Yemen.

Update: I forgot about Abu-Bakr

Convicted and sentenced to ten years and free on a warrenty, Elbaneh was released on bail. He was convicted in the case of the thwarted 2006 pre-election attacks. I think thats probably a misprint below that says he will be back in court in August; AFP says later in the month.

Almotamar.net - The Criminal Prosecution in Yemen has Sunday released the defendant Jabr al-Banaa after retaining him at the Prosecution Chief Office to bring a warranty of attending the court’s sessions. The measure came after the defendant presented an appeals petition to the prosecution. Al-Banaa release took lace after he presented guarantee for his attending of the court sittings.

In the court sitting, chaired by Judge Mohammed al-Hakimi on Sunday for trying of 36 defendants accused of forming an armed gang for attacking oil installations in Marib, Aboud al-Wahishi, the representative for inheritors of the victim working in guarding the oil installation the soldier Saleh Mohammed al-Makhzumi, presented a suit of personal right but the lawyer Faez al-Hajouri rebutted of not accepting the law suit of the family before the appeals for it was not presented at the First Instance Court.

The court asked the defendants who have appealed the primary sentence about their appeal petitions, some of them presented them through their lawyers and other some asked for postponement to the next sitting.

The court then decided the postponement until the session of Sunday on 23 August 2008 and demanded some of the defendants to reply to the prosecution appeal. The court also decided to address the Lawyers Union to delegate lawyers to defend some of the defendants and any of other defendants who want and to allow the lawyers to meet the defendants after the session and also to visit them in prison.

AFP says he is due back in court in a few weeks, but when did he become a “senior al-Qaeda leader”?

Al-Qaeda leader wanted by US released on bail in Yemen

SANAA (AFP) — Senior Al-Qaeda figure Jaber al-Banna, who has a five million dollar US bounty on his head, walked free from an appeal hearing in Yemen on Sunday after being granted bail on his own recognisance.

Banna, who has joint Yemeni-US citizenship and was handed a 10 year jail term in absentia last year, is one of 36 convicted militants who are appealing prison sentences of between two and 15 years.

He surrendered to Yemeni authorities in December after negotiations lasting several months. There has still been no word of what deal, if any, was struck.

Banna made his first court appearance at the opening of the appeal on February 23 when he was allowed to walk free without any bail conditions at all.

At Sunday’s hearing, Banna urged the court to overturn his “unjust” sentence and accused the Yemeni government of colluding with the United States to imprison him.

He is due back in court on March 23.

(Read on …)

No surprise in the verdict. LIke his lawyer said, it was all decided in advance.

al-Motamar- The constitutional office at the Supreme Court issued Sunday its judgment in the case presented by Abdulkarim al-Khaiwani who said the establishment of specialised criminal courts in Yemen as unconstitutional.

The judgment issued by the Chairman of the Higher Judiciary Council, the chairman of the Constitutional Office Judge Issam al-Samawi stipulated the constitutionality of creating specialised courts and legitimacy of the republican decree on establishing those courts.

Legal Affairs Undersecretary for the state sector Mamoun Ahmed al-Shamy who represented the state in the case told almotamar.net the judgment came to confirm legitimacy of the republican decision on formation of criminal courts considering that decision as revealing the decision of the Higher Judicial Council on establishment of those courts.

Al-Shamy added the judgment came to confirm the preamble of the republican decree on formation of criminal courts which depended on decision of the Higher Judicial Council on establishment of criminal courts and consequently the establishment of criminal courts is constitutional.

Only five years for kidnapping, murder and torture.

Yemen Observer

The penal court, presided over by judge Muhsen Alwan, has issued its ruling in the murder case of Abdulhakeem al-Sayani, regarding the public right. Regarding the right of retribution, the deceased relatives have relinquished their demands after having received blood money.

The accused persons were charged with the kidnapping and murder of al-Sayani. They held and tortured him to death, on his own land in Sana’a. They then put the body in a car and pushed it off a high cliff on the road to Hodeidah.

The 13 accused persons, including the victim’s wife, received the following penalties:
- Rafiq Mohammed al-Qadhi, a fugitive, five years imprisonment
- Ali Rajah Mohammed al-Homrani, five years imprisonment
- Wasem Dhafir, five years imprisonment
- Samir Khalid Dhafir, two years imprisonment and fifty lashes
- Bakil Hizam Mohammed al-Homrani, five years imprisonment
- Najib Hassan al-Manqabi, five years imprisonment
- Mohammed Ali Hussein, four years imprisonment
- Yahiya Hussein al-Asri, four years imprisonment
- Aied Yahiya Ali Aied, a fugitive, three years imprisonment
- Hafidha Ahmed Naji al-Shokani, the victim’s wife, two years imprisonment
- Abdulwahab Hussein, three years imprisonment
- Mohammed Saif al-Sharafi, two years and six months imprisonment
- Nidhal Ali Ahmed al-Badi, two years imprisonment

Both the accused and the prosecution have appealed the judgment.

This is a bizarre case. Two guys go to the Egyptian embassy with information on a terror plot orchestrated by Kuwait and Saudi Arabia with the knowledge of Yemeni authorities and ask for money. Egypt tells Yemen’s National Security. The guys get sentenced to death for harming relations with a brotherly country.

Court hears of Saudi-Kuwaiti plan to target Egypt
Calcutta News.Net
Saturday 16th February, 2008

A state security court in Yemen has sentenced two local men to death over trying to spy for Egypt.

The court in Sanaa heard that the men had provided the Egyptian Embassy with information about an alleged joint Saudi-Kuwaiti plan to finance terrorist attacks in Egypt.

But the Egyptian Embassy reported the details of the meeting to the Yemeni National Security Agency.

The men were found guilty of supplying Egyptian diplomats in Sanaa with details of the alleged conspiracy by the governments of Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.

Prosecutors said the men had met an Egyptian diplomat and handed over to him a ‘confidential’ document, supposedly issued by the Saudi intelligence services.

(Read on …)

Yemen Observer

The Primary Court and Prosecution of Public Money announced their judgment in case number 37 of 2003 concerning the embezzlement of money from the Airplane Fueling Administration, an affiliate of the Yemen Petroleum Company, at Sana’a airport. The case was presided over by Judge Abdulrazaq Saeed al-Akohaly and attended by Public Money Prosecutor Ramzi Abdullah al-Shawafi. The first defendant received three years imprisonment and a $360,229 fine. The second defendant will serve two years imprisonment and receive a fine of $110,016. Four of the other suspects were acquitted, while the seventh suspect’s case was closed due to his death.

The total amount which is to be refunded to the public treasury amounted to $479,312, the equivalent of YR49,062,000.

The indictment statement in the Sana’a airplane fueling case cited the embezzled amount at more than $650,000 over a period of ten years. The accused had forged official documents, whose damage was estimated to exceed $130 million.

The court then continued looking into another seven cases. One of these is the case of the forgery of official documents, employment decisions and preparation of fraudulent payroll lists for more than 1,419 persons who were said to have been employed at the Al-Jof health office in 2002, where the accused seized YR 20,142,573 in public funds.

During the session, Judge al-Akhali ordered the public money prosecution to bring the original documents before the second court session in order to determine the liability of each of the suspects, and to submit the documents to the criminal laboratory for analysis of the forged signatures.

The court ordered one of the Ministry of Finance’s deputy ministers to stand before the court, to answer why he had stalled in sending the official documents which the court demanded in order to present them to the accused.

Judge Ali al-Omisi, a member of the Public Money Court, headed a session trying 12 different cases, including one concerned with the issuing of 4 uncovered cheques to the tax department and another for the Ahli bank. There are 4 additional cases of people evading paying zakat.

I think these two are being tried for revealing state secrets. They went to the Egyptian embassy to sell a story about terrorists training in Yemen for attacks in Egypt as the behest tof SA and Kuwait, and Egypt notified Yemeni security. Its a death penalty case.

February 10, 2008 – Yemeni court adjourned on Sunday issuing sentences against two Yemeni citizens, Hamad al-Dahook and Abdul-Aziz al-Hatbani, accused of providing intelligence to the Egyptian embassy and abusing Yemen’s political and diplomatic status.

The delay was due to the participation of the court’s head, Mohsin Alwan, in a criminal justice conference held in Sana’a.

The first suspect, Haman al-Dahook, 50, admitted in the last session held in June 20 that he served as an agent to Saudi intelligence and that he was fired later.

The prosecutor said that the Egyptian embassy to Sana’a had informed the prosecution that the suspects blackmailed them in return for providing the embassy of intelligence concerning the Egyptian security.

The indictment list said that the defendants had provided the embassy with misleading information suggested that Kuwait and Saudi trained and funded terrorist networks in Yemen in order to export them to target the Egypt’s security and tourism.

Its really very good.

A 400,000 fine for 600,000 embezzlement and 130 million damages.

Yemen Observer:
The Primary Court and Prosecution of Public Money announced their judgment in case number 37 of 2003 concerning the embezzlement of money from the Airplane Fueling Administration, an affiliate of the Yemen Petroleum Company, at Sana’a airport. The case was presided over by Judge Abdulrazaq Saeed al-Akohaly and attended by Public Money Prosecutor Ramzi Abdullah al-Shawafi. The first defendant received three years imprisonment and a $360,229 fine. The second defendant will serve two years imprisonment and receive a fine of $110,016. Four of the other suspects were acquitted, while the seventh suspect’s case was closed due to his death.

The total amount which is to be refunded to the public treasury amounted to $479,312, the equivalent of YR49,062,000.

The indictment statement in the Sana’a airplane fueling case cited the embezzled amount at more than $650,000 over a period of ten years. The accused had forged official documents, whose damage was estimated to exceed $130 million.

The court then continued looking into another seven cases. One of these is the case of the forgery of official documents, employment decisions and preparation of fraudulent payroll lists for more than 1,419 persons who were said to have been employed at the Al-Jof health office in 2002, where the accused seized YR 20,142,573 in public funds.

(Read on …)

Al-Ayyam chief editor prosecuted

ADEN,NewsYemen

The chief editor of Aden-based independent daily Hisham Ba-Sharaheel was prosecuted Monday by the Aden Prosecution over a lawsuit the Labor Affairs Office in Aden has raised against him.

Ba-Sharaheel told NY that the General Prosecution asked him not to cover activities of what they say “unlicensed civil society organizations,” including Unemployed Youth Society formed lately in south Yemen to put pressure on the government to provide a huge number of youth with jobs. He said he refused to pledge not to publish activity of any civil society organizations. “We will never stop reporting activities of civil societies, licensed or unlicensed. We will be obligated only to a law prevents that,” said Ba-Sharaheel.

It is the first time that the General Prosecution intervenes in such thing. Media can cover any event without respect to its kind, the secretary-general of Yemeni Journalists Syndicate Marwan Damaj told NY.

almotamar.net - The Specialised Criminal Appeals Court chaired by Judge Mohammed Hussein al-Hakimi confirmed Tuesday the primary sentence against the defendant Saleh Saleh Julaid condemned of transferring and possession of 285 kg of hashish.

The First Instance Specialised Criminal Court has earlier sentenced defendant Julaid to 25 years of imprisonment and confiscation of materials related to the case as well as destroying the drugs.

The defendant was caught at Qaflat Othr Amran crossing point in the mid of last year inside a car and was in possession of 285 kg of hashish, manufactured abroad and was intending to smuggle the quantity to Saudi Arabia.

Time served (three years) and released, sound familiar?

Would-be assassins in Yemen freed
Published: Tuesday, 15 January, 2008, 02:21 AM Doha Time

SANAA: An appeal court in Yemen yesterday upheld a three-year prison term for two Yemenis convicted of trying to kill a former US ambassador to Sanaa but ordered their release on time already served in jail.
Judge Mohamed al-Hakimi ordered the release of Hizam Ali al-Mass and Khaled Saleh al-Heleila after upholding the sentence because they have already spent three years behind bars, a judicial source said.
Last May, a special court cut the initial jail sentence from five years to three.
The two were found guilty in March 2006 of attempting in 2004 to set off two bombs near a shop in the south of the capital where Edmund James Hull had stopped.
Hull was the US ambassador from October 2001 until July 2004.
He was accused by the ruling General People’s Congress party in April 2002 of behaving “like a high commissioner” and “interfering” in domestic affairs, and threatened with expulsion.
Before taking up his post in Sanaa, Hull was the US principal deputy co-ordinator for counter-terrorism and a member of the inter-agency Counter-Terrorism Security Group. – AFP

(Read on …)

180 persons tried for counterfeiting official documents

[01 January 2008]

SANA’A, Jan. 01 (Saba) - The Specialist Penal Court began on Tuesday its first session to try 180 persons accused of counterfeiting official documents and certificates as well as issuing forging
stamps of governmental authorities during 1997-2005.

Moreover, some of them have been also accused of bribery and using illegal influence to replace official documents with another faked ones in addition to misusing their high positions to ease forgers works.

In the first session, the court ordered the prosecution to summon about 159 accused persons to attend the next session to be held in the mid of this month.