Armies of Liberation

They released the name of one of the 23 al-Qaeda escapees already in custody, and theres a whole new wave of stories, but its not a new arrest. Fromthe Yemen Times:

One of the Al-Qaeda members who escaped from Political Security Prison Feb. 3 surrendered to police last week. According to the Defense Ministry’s 26 September Net website, Hizam Saleh Mojali is considered the sixth fugitive to surrender to security so far, from among 23 fugitives who dug out of the Sana’a intelligence jail.

Mojali was sentenced to death by the Competent Penal Court’s appeals division for his link to the Al-Qaeda terrorist organization, participating with Jamal Badawi in the 2002 attack on French supertanker Limburg and for killing policeman Hameed Khasroof. This is the first time the government has announced the identity of an arrested prisoner, as the identities of five previously arrested prisoners remain unknown.

Media reported differing stories about the way the prisoners were arrested. According to local press, the last two surrendered in the southeastern province of Hadramout, telling police officials they decided to surrender after “finding it difficult to stay on the run any longer with police pursuing them.” Whereas Agence France-Presse (AFP), quoting a security official on condition of anonymity, reported in February that two escapees were arrested with the help of three other recently surrendered jail breakers. The men, who hail from the southeastern province of Al-Beidha, were arrested in Sana’a disguised in civilian clothing.

Immediately after the 23 prisoners’ escape, Yemeni security forces set up checkpoints throughout Sana’a to try to catch them before they attempted hiding in mountainous tribal territories far from Yemeni government control. Security arrested approximately 200 of the fugitives’ relatives and associates for investigation. A security official said combined operations are continuing in areas considered extremist group strongholds. The official confirmed that fugitives’ relatives and friends have been arrested.

Police also distributed fugitives’ photographs to all checkpoints, police stations and intelligence agents throughout Yemen. Additionally, Yemen’s Interior Ministry announced a YR 5 million reward ($25,600) for information on any of the Al-Qaeda escapees who broke out of their prison at intelligence service headquarters in the southern Sana’a suburb of Hadda. Authorities said the men dug a 44-meter-long tunnel from their cell to a nearby mosque using steel food pots and cooking tools.

Fugitives include Jamal Badawi, leader of the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole warship and the 2002 attack on French supertanker Limburg, and Fawaz Al-Rabyee, a Yemeni-American wanted by the U.S. Al-Rabyee was sentenced to death in August 2004 following his conviction for leading a 14-member group linked to the Al-Qaeda terrorist organization.

They still in contact and requesting that they return to their cells: Yemen Observer,
Security officials said authorities were in indirect contact with the remaining fugitives to persuade them to surrender. The officials said tribal leaders and clerics were the intermediaries, but did not provide further details.

Update from News Yemen: It was over a month ago that the Al-Motamr Net announced the return of 6 escapees to prison.

By the way, I wonder how those negotiations with the al-Qaeda escapees are going…its been several weeks since President Ali Abdullah Saleh reported that he was in contact with the escapees and negotiating with them for their return.

From New Yemen:

Riyad Al-Ghili, imam of the Awqaf mosque is still imprisoned following a press statement made by him stating that he had informed security concerning the holes around his mosque prior to the escape of 23 convicts. Among those who fled are many indicted for their connection with Al-Qaeda. They escaped through tunnels from the prison that exited into the women’s restroom of the Awqaf mosque.
Al-Ghili was released three days after his imprisonment and before the escape of the prisoners. He told News Yemen that members of the security force invaded his home. He also confirmed that he was investigated by the public prosecutor’s office and not by security.
The lawyer Khaled Al-Ansi, executive director for the national organization for the defense of rights and freedoms stated that he considers Al-Ghili’s imprisonment a breach of human rights. He confirmed that his organization had spoken with the deputy general and head of the political security unit.
The relatives of Al-Ghili have criticized the AP and News Yemen for not covering his arrest.
Al-Ansi considers the imprisonment an aggression against society’s right to know information and opinions as well as the charges filed against his person especially since this is a private citizen and not a government employee.
He was arrested the night of Wednesday and taken from his home.
The lawyer Mohammed Naji Alawa demanded the public prosecutor’s office to take swift action in investigating the issue and to allow the defendant to speak for himself. He continued by saying he hopes the authorities deal with the issue in accordance to the constitution and laws of the land.
Mr. Alawa stated that Hud will implore the council to investigate the case with respect to the prisoners’ rights. He declared that the prisoners currently live in inhumane circumstances and are handcuffed. They are in solitary confinement and are not allowed visitors.
In Al-Ghili’s first statement after his release he said that he had informed the police of the tunnels after hearing sounds coming from them. However, the police declared this as imaginations only.

Mareb Press website: the Yemeni government is negotiating through mediators with 12 of 23 Qaeda escapees from the PSO prison earlier last month. The mediators are trying to convince them to surrender with no extra jail time imposed for the escape. According to informed sources, 6 will turn themselves in soon, and 6 others later. The 12 mostly were sentenced to relatively short (10 years) prison terms and only have a few years left.

Jamal Al-Badawi (main suspect of the USS Cole attack) and Fawaz AL-Rabe’i , are not among the 12.

A big article from News Yemen. Its a very good and complex analysis. The escapees include well trained major AQ operatives including nine previously turned over by SA to Yemen and who have high level contacts inside and outside the region. While ongoing cooperation is important according to the Saudis, the fact that they were housed together for a year is a troubling indication. 400 guns sold by the US to Yemen that were found in SA in the hands of AQ is news, to me at least, and implicates elements of the military in supplying AQ, which is not news, to me at least.

This is interesting, “The arrest of al-Ahdal helped speed up the Saudi American alignment in exercising pressure on Yemen.”

This is freaky; “They disclosed unreality of what was said before on the arrest of Hadi Belqim, mentioning it was proved that Belqim was still free as denying correctness of what was published in Sana’a about the arrest of Abdulrahim al-Nashiri. Saying he was seen free in company with one of Yemeni security men before he was later arrested in the Emirates.” Lying to the US again?

The book mentioned is Sleeping with the Devil, by Robert Baer, who just keeps popping up and is the guy I mentioned in the last article who said that a Saudi military official told him the Yemeni regime is covering up some aspects of the Cole bombing.

Despite the seriousness in trial of tens of those accused of carrying terrorist acts or planning for them, Yemen appears to be amidst a regional and international tempestuous moment towards files it is achieving successes in them. It is Yemen’s cooperation with the international community in fighting terror dating back to the Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh to the White House following the September 11 attacks.

It is strange that the official Yemeni performance seems languid regarding indicators of the tempest as it tries to make use of it domestically and a little farther from the United States of America. This stance is maybe meant for the agenda of the presidential elections and probably to bypass effects of Saada battles, or to put pressure on America that has stepped up its demands concerning requirements of democratic change and its refusal of the Yemeni presence at the millennium fund without achievement of outstanding technical accomplishments.

Despite the Yemeni tepid handling of the 23 who ran away from the Political Security prison on the 3rd of last February, the incident seems to have considerable impact on Yemen in its regional and international relations, even if the authority does not realize that.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has begun “sharp” security and diplomatic activity, as described that to NewsYemen by a high ranking source, to express about its fears from the effect of the escapees outside Yemen. Al-Hayat newspaper in its Saudi edition had quoted Saudi sources as saying that the runaways “from operatives on whom al-Qaeda organization was depending to implement its plans in the region.” The sources that the newspaper described as “reliable”, described the runaways as “possessing highly professional capabilities for carrying out terrorist attacks at both levels of planning and implementation.” The escaped group, “ nine elements the Saudi authorities had repatriated to Yemen according to the security cooperation between the two countries”, included “ dangerous terrorist elements that engineered and took part in planning for big terrorist operations and in their carrying out”, confirming that “ they have large-scale relations and contacts with the rest of the al-Qaeda organization cells and other terrorist organizations inside and outside the region, expecting to “ begin building other terrorist cells inside and outside the region in addition to activating and rehabilitation of other cells to implement new acts .”

The Saudi statements published on al-Hayat newspaper front page, exceeded the talk on the danger of the escapees to queries on the escape operation and said the escaped al-Qaeda operatives “ stayed more than one year in one prison, talking, thinking and planning together until they Managed to dig the tunnel and then escape. ” They wondered “How can a cell experienced in field action be put in one place, a matter that does not serve the course of security investigation and interrogation?” the sources also described the prisoners escape operation as “dangerous” and rather “ dangerous precedence” because of the big number of escapees. But they emphasized the importance of “keeping the security coordination and cooperation between the Yemeni and other security apparatuses” They also stressed the “importance of joining forces and increase in security coordination and cooperation among the region’s countries to arrest the group before they begin to implement sudden terrorist attacks in any available form,” pointing that “the group will seize any available opportunity.”

The Saudi statements on the escapees come at a time when Saudi citizens are standing trial in Sana’a on charges of planning to hit foreign interests in Yemen, after their return from Iraq. In addition there is the more important issue, which is the beginning of Abu A’sim al-Ahdal, whose arrest on 25 November 2003, was accompanied by an indirect tempest in the relations between Yemen and Saudi Arabia, especially that the Americans consider him as “a witness more than an accused in the terrorist operations carried out in Yemen, particularly the Cole and Limburg attacks. The arrest of al-Ahdal helped speed up the Saudi American alignment in exercising pressure on Yemen.

Saudi sources had published news about quantities of weapons, among them shoulder guns that were seized in Saudi Arabia, of American origin sold to the Yemeni defense ministry, in addition to 400 guns carried on shoulder and having serial numbers as part of a deal the United States sold to Yemen defense ministry. Those weapons were seized during one of Saudi raids of gunmen hideout in the kingdom. The sources had wondered on how those weapons were taken from the ministry’s arsenals to be used by al-Qaeda for hitting American interests in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The Saudi media had then talked about concerns of American authorities regarding incorrectness of statements published on operations targeting al-Qaeda elements. They disclosed unreality of what was said before on the arrest of Hadi Belqim, mentioning it was proved that Belqim was still free as denying correctness of what was published in Sana’a about the arrest of Abdulrahim al-Nashiri. Saying he was seen free in company with one of Yemeni security men before he was later arrested in the Emirates. Those were statements made by the Saudi interior minister prince Naif Bin Abdulaziz after the arrest of al-Nashiri last year. The political adviser to the president of the republic Dr Abdulkarim al-Iryani had then replied on those statements. At that time Sana’a considered raising the talk on Yemen’s arming of terrorists came to be ahead of information that may be obtained from the detainee Mohammed Hamdi al-Ahdal. Yemen had then said the preliminary information of investigation confirmed involvement of regional personalities in the attack on Limburg and facilitation in the attack on Cole, as part of the local conflict of the country to which those personalities were affiliate. A few days after the capture of al-Ahdal, the Yemeni interior ministry tried to contain the crisis and allowed a Saudi security team to be acquainted with procedures of investigation with al-Ahdal and Yemeni security sources rejected to divulge information by the American intelligence on the author of a book titled “Sleeping with the Satan”, copies of which were given to Yemeni presidency. The book had mentioned about a regional role in the operations of Cole and Limburg. The Yemeni interior ministry had talked in a statement during that crisis about “partied aimed at media excitement with the aim of misleading the world public opinion on the truth of Yemeni serious and decisive stands in fighting terror,” pointing to attempts of “extortion” against Yemen, mentioning “Yemen that suffered damage of terrorist acts, more than any other country, could not submit to any extortion of whatever kind or of whatever source.”

According to Yemeni sources there were previous American intelligence repots delivered to Yemen that mentioned about such information on a role by Saudi prices in supporting al-Qaeda operations in Yemen and the possibility that al-Ahdal, who was among the FBI lists, might have confirmation or denial of the information. Yemen had earlier announced it had sent to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia “what concerned it of al-Ahdal confessions, “who had “talked about names of personalities in Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and the Arab United Emirates” who helped him in funding al-Qaeda terrorist acts in Yemen. It is known that al-Ahdal, who Yemen authorities had accused of receiving more than eighty million riyals to spend on tribesmen in the governorates of Al-Jawf and Marib to facilitate hiding the wanted elements, was born in Al-Madina, Saudi Arabia in 1971. He studied in that city as he graduated from secondary school and then worked in trading with honey and established the Caucasus Charitable Society. He is a handicapped, putting on an artificial leg and his left arm paralyzed because of injuries caused in many battles in Bosnea-Hersegovina and Chechnya where his left leg was amputated because of his wound. Yemeni authorities say all his travels to take part in fighting were before going to Yemen as he was forced to go to Yemen after his imprisonment in Saudi Arabia in 1999, spending one year and two months after being deported to Yemen. His first appearance of his name in Yemen was a storming operation by Yemeni Special Forces of Al-Aljalal strongholds in Marib governorate, 140 km to the east of Sana’a on 18 December 2001. Fifteen persons were killed and 20 were wounded in the clashes with Abeeda tribesmen of Marib governorate before the combing up of Balharith area in Shabwa governorate for the same reason. Security authorities said “Abu A’sim” is the connecting link in receiving amounts of money from abroad to finance sabotage activities in Yemen and distribute them among elements of al-Qaeda and that “ the last sum of money he received was $ 500 thousand from Kuwaiti and Saudi sides suspected to be affiliate of al-Qaeda. The purpose is to carry out terrorist acts against American interests and a number of economic and oil installations.

In the second of his trial sessions last February, the prosecution announced that al-Ahdal “Abu A’sim” had confessed before the general prosecution of raising one million and 61 thousand Saudi Riyals from Saudi businessmen in four years to support al-Qaeda organization in Yemen, but the prosecution refused to disclose their identities. Representative of the prosecution Khalid al-Maweri, in the Monday session chaired by judge Najib al-Qaderi, said the accused delivered 20 thousand riyals to the first man in the organization in Yemen, Abu Ali al-Harithi, who was killed in November 2002 in Marib and 50 thousand riyals sent to al-Harithi via a person Abdulaziz, nicknamed “Abu Maath”, a Palestinian carrying Saudi nationality.

When the judge asked al-Ahdal about correctness of his confessions before the general prosecution, he affirmed he had collected 61 million Saudi riyals I four years to support families of the Yemenis killed and imprisoned in Afghanistan, Chechnya, Bosnia-Herzegovina and also families of Yemenis detained in Guantanamo.

On the American side, according to what was announced by military sources that published for the first time text of a letter from the American president to president Saleh, Bush had expressed his disappointment for Yemen’s stance regarding its commitments. However, the letter did not mention about al-Qaeda, the escapees and the detained, but only talked about al-Zindani and Khalid Mishaal. According to the message text Bush told Saleh among data is our joint commitment to strengthening the bilateral cooperation between our to counties, but I have felt a big disappointment when I learned that you have guaranteed Sheikh al-Zindani, the person the United Nation determined as his having ties with al-Qaeda organization, that was in the Yemen official delegation at the Organization of Islamic Conference in Mecca, Saudi Arabia that was dedicated to denounce terror and fighting extremism and enhancement of tolerance. Bush has also expressed his growing concern when he learned that president Saleh received warmly Khalid Mishaal, the leader of Hamas at the beginning of this month.

According to Bush’s letter, he mentioned that Saleh’s close ties with the individuals he mentioned cause skepticism in Saleh’s commitment to the war on terror. He confirmed that the method by which he could prove his being committed partner was by carrying out without more delay Yemen’s international obligations by freezing Sheikh al-Zindani properties and preventing him from future travel. In addition, Bush urged president Saleh to sever the relation with Hamas and its leaders. Bush said Saleh’s cooperation in the war on terror was important and expressed his hope that it was possible to depend on his leadership in scoring victory over terror.

The Tunnel Rats of Terror
The Qaeda captives in Yemen spent two months digging to freedom. Did they get inside help?
By Michael Hirsh, Mark Hosenball and Rod Nordland
NEWSWEEK
From the magazine issue dated Feb 20, 2006
Hollywood loves to remake classic movies, and sooner or later it’s sure to get around to “The Great Escape,” the 1963 thriller based on a real tunnel breakout from a Nazi prison camp during World War II. But this time Al Qaeda’s propaganda machine may get the jump on Tinseltown. Earlier this month, in an astonishing tale of life imitating art–albeit with good guys and bad reversing roles–a group of 23 suspected terrorists dug their way to freedom from a basement compound beneath the Political Security Office (PSO), Yemen’s main intelligence service, in the capital of Sana. Leading them out–in the starring role, as it were–was one Jamal al-Badawi, the mastermind of the October 2000 attack on the USS Cole that killed 17 sailors. Another escapee was an American Muslim, Jaber Elbaneh, who was once part of an alleged cell in Buffalo, N.Y. None has been seen since. (Read on …)

Interesting article from al-Hayat about the escape and its impact on Saudi Arabia.

Jamil Ziabi Al-Hayat – 01/03/06//

Terrorist groups will not give up targeting the innocent, properties, and gains under the motive of grudge against humanity. These terrorist cells spring from the bases of Al Qaeda from Afghanistan to Chechnya and Sudan, established with international blessings to curb the Soviet Communist expansion at the time. They represent the dark ideas and the stained minds that only accept perverted ideas and only adhere to poisonous minds lacking any rational human thinking. They started by killing the innocent; they will end up executed by fire. These groups will continue in their dark endeavors as long as some are still promoting them and openly justifying their acts, describing them as “lured” following any suicide attack, to convince the public that they are young and ignorant. How can we believe such justifications as long as we see in media outlets and on a daily basis, governments and parents urging them to return to righteousness, but “to no avail”!?

These people are “dissenters” and cannot be trusted or treated humanely because they seek to kill children and elderly and enjoy “widow-making”. They will not recover their good sense even if their countries turn their “mirage” into reality. Following the most recent attempt to bomb “Abqaiq refinery,” eastern Saudi Arabia, it became clear that Al Qaeda is adopting a new tactic. Its cells are seeking to bomb oil facilities during weekends or flat hours, usually considered a time for “rest”, making the work of security men complex, sensitive and dangerous. It would require constant vigilance and alertness until the dark cloud dissipates. What made the matter worse was the escape of 23 Al Qaeda operatives from an intelligence prison in Yemen, which implies the possibility of the formation of new terrorist cells and the start of organized bombing operations with the cooperation of 36 individuals hunted by the Saudi security authorities.

I wonder if Yemen realizes the magnitude of the offense it committed against its neighbor and brethren (Saudi Arabia) by failing to stiffen the grip on the prison where the 23 fugitives were held. Yemen knows well that they are some of the master minds in Al Qaeda and are well-versed in military trainings and camps. These have not changed their ideologies or intentions and will not be able to refrain from engaging in some kind of terrorist activities, especially that they have previously took part in bombing the Limburg tanker and USS Cole and others. Two weeks ago, following their breakout, I wrote that there was “connivance” behind the incident. Not one reasonable person can blame the Yemeni tribes and clans for upholding their traditions and values in carrying personal arms in order to protect themselves as long as wardens, security personnel and intelligence agents are “incapable” of controlling and guarding criminals held behind prison bars.

Political and security analysts agreed since day one that the flight of Al Qaeda members denotes “connivance.” President Ali Abdullah Saleh did not conceal, in his interview with colleague Ghassan Charbel, in Al-Hayat, that laxity facilitated the escape. It should be the first and the last “connivance” for those who did it. Measures should be implemented to set an example for all others. Whoever facilitated such an act could facilitate the execution of a terrorist attack in the country. We salute the audacity of President Saleh in admitting the fact, hoping that the ongoing contacts with the fugitives will be concluded by a surrender, as he said. Nevertheless, I am convinced that he who walked out through a tunnel will not “voluntarily” return to the prison he escaped, regardless of the cost…

While the Yemeni regime has announced that it has thwarted two more escape attempts, the great escape continues to make its impact. I find this article interesting for several reasons. In the other hand, its at antiwar.com:

Yemen: Behind the al-Qaeda ‘Jailbreak’

by Yassar Yafai
In Yemen, every government institution – the military, enforcement agencies, courts, detention centers, etc. – is under the strict control of the dictatorship. The prison from which the 23 al-Qaeda members escaped is known as the detention center for military intelligence, directly answerable to President Ali Abdullah Saleh. This is no Mickey Mouse jail. It is the most feared and secretive detention center in Yemen, located in the capital Sanaa, the heart of the dictatorship. It’s like a mini town, swarming with fully armed Interior Ministry officers. The conditions are atrocious, if ever you have the misfortune of being picked up by the secret police (and Yemen is swarming with them, too). Prisoners live in small confined areas, with no sanitary facilities, no lighting, and absolutely no privacy.

I hope I have given the reader a sense of the situation. You may ask, “How could any individual, let alone 23 dangerous al-Qaeda members, escape?” Exactly my point. Are we to believe that they were all housed together in one room, communicating with their accomplices, giving them their exact location, then escaping through a long tunnel built with the precision and expertise of an otter? It is clear that there was assistance from within the security services. A U.S. embassy cable sent from Sanaa that was described to Newsweek noted: “One thing is certain: PSO [Political Security Office] insiders must have been involved.”

Let’s look at what we know. The guards learned of the escape the following day, Feb. 4. On Feb. 5, Interpol issued a global security alert. It then took two whole days (Feb. 7) before the regime decided to launch an intensive search in the capital and other parts of Yemen. On Feb. 9, President Saleh met with the Saudi interior minister to discuss terrorism and cross-border security. On Feb. 11, U.S. Navy ships were stationed off the coast of Yemen, just in case the al-Qaeda members decided to escape by boat.

Now let’s take a look at Yemen. For the past few months, there has been a small revolt to the north of Sanaa, and the regime is having difficulties suppressing it. In addition, the regime is beginning to sense that their iron grip on the population is weakening. Suddenly, the mastermind of the attack on the USS Cole in 2000, responsible for the deaths of 17 U.S. soldiers, escapes. Saudi Arabia’s interior minister then meets Saleh to discuss “cross-border” security: the mini-revolt against the regime is taking place near the Yemeni-Saudi border. Oh yes, Yemen’s interior minister, Rashad al-Alemi, is then promoted to deputy prime minister, while retaining his position as interior minister. It wouldn’t be wrong to presume that after the escape the interior minister should have been demoted, not promoted.

There is no doubt that the escape of the al-Qaeda members is a tool to be used against political opponents, both internally and externally. A few days after the “great escape,” Saleh replaced several highly qualified officials of mostly Southern origin in and around the Southern city of Aden with corrupt and undeserving members of his family or tribe, further impeding the steady but slow economic growth of the region and thus reinvigorating his iron grip on a deprived population.

Now let’s rewind the clock to try to understand how this all started. In the 1994 civil war in Yemen, Saleh invited bin Laden-trained fighters to enter Yemen to suppress the South. These fighters played a major role in the victory of the North over the South. Today, they are being used to suppress the revolt to the north of Sanaa. In addition to pleading for help from bin Laden-trained fighters, Saleh also called upon his closest ally and mentor, Saddam Hussein, for assistance in the 1994 civil war. Saddam replied by sending generals. They remained and are today very much a part of the military apparatus. Furthermore, after the fall of Baghdad, top-level former Iraqi generals were recruited into Yemen’s military. As a result, Yemen’s security services are believed to be have been infiltrated by both al-Qaeda and Ba’athist personnel and sympathizers.

Many questions about the bombing of the USS Cole remain unanswered. However, we know that in the early hours before the attack, Saleh personally sent some high-level officials to the port in Aden. The then-interior minister issued an official letter instructing security personnel to give “safe passage to [Cole mastermind] Sheik Mohammed Omar al-Harazi [also known as Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri] with three bodyguards without being searched or intercepted. All security forces are instructed to cooperate with him and facilitate his missions.”

Yemen’s regime and politics is murky and untrustworthy. But by putting together the pieces, what we have is an agreement between Saleh’s regime and al-Qaeda fighters and former Iraqi generals to defend Saleh from popular opposition in return for safe havens and influence. Under the cover of the Yemeni regime, weaponry and money is channeled through Yemen to al-Qaeda and the insurgency in Iraq. For example, two AK-47 assault rifles used in the attack on the U.S. consulate in Saudi Arabia have been traced to Yemen’s Defense Ministry. And in 2003, the U.S. noted shipments of night vision goggles from Russia to Yemen that were most likely transshipped to the insurgency in Iraq.

What this means, what is the deal, why anyone would escape just to surrender: I dont know. From the YObserver:

President Ali Abdullah Saleh confirmed that three Al-Qaeda inmates who were part of a group that managed to escape from a Yemeni jail earlier this month have given themselves up to the government…

“So far, three have given themselves up and we are in contact with the rest of them and they are for certain still inside the country,” president of Yemen told the paper.“They want to give themselves up and most of them have finished the majority of their sentence already.”

How odd, who accomplished what here? They finished most of their sentences, so…..

On the other hand, John Kerry will be happy to know that not everybody considers him a lilly- livered wimp…

On the other hand, the Yemeni authorities put last Wednesday on trial 17 men, including five Saudis, charged with planning attacks against US interests in the country on the orders of the leader of Al-Qaeda in Iraq Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi. The prosecutor said the defendants had planned to carry out “criminal attacks” to avenge the US Central Intelligence Agency’s killing of a top Al-Qaeda operative in 2002. He said they had travelled to Iraq and then returned to Yemen in 2004 to “carry out their mission on the directives of Abu Musab Al Zarqawi”. The defendants admitted to going to Iraq but denied planning any attacks in Yemen. “Our problem with the United States is in Iraq, not Yemen,” said the leader of the group, Ali Al-Sayyad Al-Harithi.

He said he had received explosive-making training in Iraq but that he had left after he said that John Kerry, the Democratic candidate in the 2004 US presidential election, had threatened Yemen. “I wanted to defend my country,” he added.

Somehow related, the US complains about Zindani and the FBI searches the offices of the Yemeni national airlines. From DEBKA:

The FBI seizes suspicious documents in raid of Yemen airline Yamaniya offices in Dearborn, Detroit:
The raid was carried out after Yemeni president Ali Abdallah Salah refused a White House request to arrest the prominent radical Sheikh Abdul Majid Zindani, head of the powerful Islamist al-Islah (Reform) party and Iman University of Sanaa, for inciting to terrorism. DEBKAfile’s counter-terror sources report that although the sheikh is on a UN list of terrorists, Salah included him in his official party to the Islamic Conference summit in Mecca last December. He is respected as a scholar in Saudi Arabia. The Yemeni president demanded US intelligence proofs of Zindani’s involvement in terrorism. Iman University is known as a breeding ground for radical Islamists. He has been recorded in a speech as accusing “Bush and the Jews” of conspiring to carry out the Sept. 11 attack in New York.

That great liberal icon Michael Moore also accuses Bush and the Jews of carrying out 9/11. Back on the planet earth, though, it was a little surprising when Zindani went to Mecca, but that was December, after Saleh’s visit in November.

Keeping with the good news theme, hope for an end to the Houthi rebellion. From the Yemen Observer:

Yeya Al-Shami, the new Governor of Saada, has said that the judiciary is preparing to release hundreds of the Houthi’s followers within the next few days, a media report said. The moves follow the successful talks made between the Mediation and Dialogue Committee with the Houthi followers, persuading them to stop attacks on official and government institutions in the northern Saada region. Al-Shami, the head of the committee, said that the committee was continuing its efforts to reach an end to the rebellion for the sake of national interest.

“The committee is on the way to root out the rebellion,” he said. Sheikhs, clerics, civil society organizations and local council officials all took part in the mediation talks. Steps would be taken to release those prisoners who are not found to be guilty, freed after mediation efforts by prominent social figures in response to orders by the President. A statement, signed by Abdul-Karim Al-Houthi confirmed his and his followers support for the law and state legitimacy.

There’s been a lot of deaths of soldiers, civilians and rebels.

Amazing. Obviously they were noisy but that didnt matter because the authorities refused to take the report.

AP: Sheik Riyad al-Gheili heard the sound of digging 10 days before authorities discovered 23 convicted al-Qaida prisoners had popped through the floor of the women’s restroom at his mosque and escaped.

But police, when informed of the strange noises, discounted the Muslim cleric’s warning.

“When I informed the prison guards of the sounds I was hearing at night, they told me I’m imagining things,” al-Gheili told The Associated Press on Friday, giving the first independent account of an escape that has raised concern in Washington about Yemen’s commitment to fighting terrorism.

The prison break was discovered on Feb. 3, when, a few days after reporting the noise to authorities, al-Gheili again walked the few steps separating Al-Awqaf Mosque from the Political Security Department prison _ this time, to tell them of a hole discovered in the floor of the women’s restroom.

Until then, officials at the maximum-security facility had not been aware the men were missing, al-Gheili said.

The prison break has raised questions about official involvement and whether Yemen _ Osama bin Laden’s ancestral home _ is a serious ally in hunting down terrorists.

The Bush administration has expressed concern about the threat posed by the fugitives, as well as lax security at the prison and the wisdom of housing the prisoners together in one cell.

“There’s definite collusion from inside the jail,” said Muhammad Ali al-Saqqaf, a lawyer. “The story that the men used cutlery to dig their way out doesn’t make sense. Yemenis eat with their fingers. Plus, they needed much stronger instruments to make that tunnel.”

Yemenis, especially some who have been jailed in the prison, agree. They want the government to explain where the dirt extracted from the tunnel was disposed of, why no one reported the sound of digging and the smell of dust, and where the prisoners got the sharp digging tools. (Read on …)

(Update: I replaced the orignal version with the World Press version. This guy is such a good editor, he fixed it up so much. Global Politician published it with the full conclusion, which is also good because their’s is a new audience, and the conclusion is an overview. )

One theory circulating in Yemen these days is that the recent escape of 23 prisoners from a maximum-security intelligence facility was orchestrated to transfer them to U.S. custody, circumventing Yemen’s extradition laws. Certainly the U.S. would have an interest in obtaining custody of the escapees. Several were convicted of complicity in the bombing of the U.S.S. Cole, which killed 17 U.S. service members on Oct. 12, 2000. Others include convicted bombers of a French oil tanker, the Lindburg. One was an American, Gaber Elbaneh, who was convicted in the U.S. of involvement in an Al Qaeda cell in Lackawana, New York.

After the jailbreak, the Yemeni government failed to provide Interpol with the prisoners’ photographs fingerprints and other information that would have enabled an international red alert. Lacking the information, Interpol issued a lower, orange alert. If the regime had been acting in concert with the United States, it likely would have attempted to reap the publicity benefit of prompt cooperation with Interpol. Rather, there are many indications that the escape was carried out in concert with Al Qaeda sympathizers in the Yemeni security apparatus. (Read on …)

SwissInfo: The 23 inmates who escaped through a 140-metre (460-feet) tunnel hollowed under their prison to a nearby mosque included not just leaders of deadly attacks on a U.S. warship and a French oil tanker, but also, it emerged days later, a Yemeni-American with a $5 million U.S. reward on his head.

Western annoyance at the grave security breach has been compounded by a perception that Yemen has been slow to respond and — despite its statements to the contrary — less than fully cooperative with the world police organisation Interpol.

One week after the escape, none of the men has been recaptured. Interpol distributed alerts for them on Tuesday but said it had not been able to issue its highest grade of international wanted notice because it was still waiting for the Yemenis to supply the men’s fingerprints and arrest warrants.

A European counter-terrorism official said the “limited” Yemeni response only reinforced the impression that the escape took place with at least some help from the authorities.

“It’s impossible it was staged without any involvement of prisons guards, prison administration, etc. It’s too big, too well premeditated, too well prepared. There must be some involvement of, let’s say, official elements in Yemen,” he said.

U.S. Senator Carl Levin, senior Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, described the escape this week as “downright appalling” and also questioned whether Yemen’s government was complicit.

Also the US is “disappointed” about the escape, as US ships patrol the coasts.

On a lighter note, the English language website for the paper of the ruling party al-Motamar doesn’t even mention the escape. Neither does Saba the official news agency. Thats a little funny but very common, nothing bad ever happens in Yemen according to the official media, unless it somehow reflects well on the regime. Thus these two official news sources are listed on the sidebar as propaganda sites.

Also Yemen announces suspects to be tried for negligence and slackness in their jobs. Im assuming this means some low level people who had nothing whatsoever to do with actively aiding in the escape.

(update: I have been requested to explain who Hittar is. Hittar the dueling Koranic verses judge who dialogs with the AQ to rehabilitate them out of their evil ways so the Yemnei govt can release them. When I was on al-Jazeera, I mentioned that Bin Laden’s body guard had said to the BBC that the dialog program was a sham and just a way to expedite their releases and all they have to promise is not to attack inside Yemen. So when Hittar was in DC in Dec, he invited me to the Yemeni embassy to discuss issues of shared concern with me, but unfortunately, I couldn’t make arrangements for my kids, so I declined. Just to make a point, rehabilitation and integration is an important issue. And I was hoping to hear Hittar’s explanation of the program, but unfortunately he did not answer when I requested that he email me any information he thought I was lacking. )

Maybe he’ll email me finally and we can discuss it.

(Update: Oddly enough, after I posted this I heard from the embassy that Judge Hittar welcomes my questions. So Im happy for that. Its an important issue and I’d like to hear his view.)

Also 200 family members arrested. And sounds of digging were reported earlier:

NY In the wake of the escape of 23 al-Qaeda prisoners from the prison of the Yemen Political Security Organization, security forces here launched a large-scale arrest campaign that included round 200 persons from relatives of the escapees. Security forces arrest campaign is part of investigation in the escape incident which the U.S. State Department described as “a disappointing development”, emphasizing that America would work with Yemeni officials and its international partners in the manhunt of those dangerous terrorists.
Head of the specialized punitive prosecution Saeed al-Aqil is undertaking interrogation with the detainees after he has listened to testimonies of chief of the Political Security Ghalib al-Qamash and deputy of the Political Security Organization Rajih Hunaish and Imam of the mosque Riyadh al-Ghaili whom the security arrested him for three days. He as also listened to testimony of Judge Hamoud al-Hattar, chairman of the Ideological Dialogue with those accused of extremism, who is also preacher of the same mosque. (Read on …)

Middle East Times, SANAA — The mysterious escape of 23 dangerous Al Qaeda operatives from a high-security prison in Yemen is bound to further strain US-Yemeni relations.

Observers expressed fears that the flight of the convicted terrorists will increase tensions in relations between Sanaa and Washington, and expose serious deficiencies in the Yemeni security system.

“We do not know exactly what is going on behind the scenes in terms of reactions to the incident and its direct impact on Yemeni-US relations, which have been extremely tense in the past phase,” said political commentator and journalist Mounir Mawri.

“But one thing is certain is that regardless of the explanations of the incident, it will have sequels and consequences that should be taken seriously inside and outside Yemen,” Mawri told the local English-language daily News. (Read on …)

SENATORS LEVIN AND SCHUMER HOLD NEWS CONFERENCE ON THE
ESCAPE OF AL QAIDA PRISONERS IN YEMEN >
FEBRUARY 7, 2006
SPEAKERS: U.S. SENATOR CARL LEVIN (D-MI)
U.S. SENATOR CHARLES SCHUMER (D-NY)
[*]
LEVIN: Good morning, everybody.
QUESTION: Good afternoon.
LEVIN: We’re dismayed by the administration’s tepid response to the recent reports that at the end of last week 23 Al Qaida suspects escaped from a heavily guarded underground Yemeni prison through a 460-foot underground tunnel into a neighboring mosque.
Among the convicted terrorists who escaped was a man named Mr. Al Badwi, described as the mastermind who plotted, prepared and helped carry out the bombing of the USS Cole in October of 2000.
To describe these events as a, quote, “disappointing development,” which is what both the White House spokesman said and what the State Department spokesman said, is totally inadequate.
It’s interesting they used the word “disappointing” both at the State Department and at the White House, as though they were reading from some kind of a point paper on this issue.
And it’s not disappointing. It’s downright appalling that this escape happened: 23 known Al Qaida convicted people escaping from a Yemeni prison, including the very person who masterminded the attack on the United States with the USS Cole.
There’s an awful lot of questions here which the administration needs to answer and to get answers for, including the circumstances of the escape. How did this kind of a massive digging operation go undetected? Who were the outside accomplices digging from inside of the mosque? Whether there was complicity inside the Yemeni government agents with the escape, Whether or not Yemeni intelligence service has been infiltrated by Al Qaida sympathizers.
But most importantly, it seems to me that not only should there be a much stronger response, but there also has got to be a more serious pressing of an offer of assistance to the Yemenis. It’s even unclear from the statement of the State Department representative, Sean McCormack, as to whether or not we have pressed the Yemenis to accept assistance from our investigative personnel. (Read on …)

You would think in an effort to hold on to their last shred of credibility, the regime would hand over the names and photos. When Democrat Senator Barabara Boxer of all people calls you a “so called ally,” really its time to pay attention.

Reuters

An Interpol statement said: “Red notices can only be issued by Interpol at the request of member countries and only if they are supported by underlying national arrest warrants.”

Interpol’s Secretary-General Ronald Noble asked Yemen to provide the required information immediately, saying the escape could not be considered an internal problem.

“Unless Interpol red notices are issued urgently for these fugitives and unless the world community commits itself to tracking them down, they will be able to travel internationally, to elude detection and to engage in future terrorist activity,” Noble said.

The 13 militants were among 23 inmates who broke out of jail in the capital Sanaa in a major embarrassment for Yemeni authorities, who have cracked down on militants in the ancestral land of Osama bin Laden and positioned themselves as an ally of the United States in the war on terrorism.

They included Jamal Badawi, mastermind of the bombing of the U.S.S. Cole in the Yemeni port of Aden in October 2000, which killed 17 U.S. sailors. He was originally sentenced to death, but this was later commuted to 15 years in prison.

Another prominent escapee was Fawaz al-Rabe’ie, sentenced to death as leader of the group convicted of bombing the French oil tanker Limburg off the Yemeni coast in 2002, killing one crewman.

A Yemeni state-run Web site (www.almotamar.net) said 17 of those who escaped were convicted of al Qaeda-linked crimes, while the other six were awaiting trial for similar charges.

U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer, a Democratic member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told CNN: “I feel very uneasy about this development … We have so-called allies in the world that are saying they want to help us, and yet how do 23 people ‘escape’? It raises some terribly difficult questions.”

Forbes: Noble urged Yemen, the ancestral home of Osama bin Laden, to provide names, photographs, fingerprints and other information about the suspects. …The convicts escaped via a 140-yard-long tunnel “dug by the prisoners and coconspirators outside,” Interpol said. The Yemeni official said the prison was at the central headquarters of the country’s military intelligence services in a building in the center of the capital…After the Sept. 11 attacks, the government aligned itself with the U.S.-led war on terrorism. But many diplomats and outside experts have raised questions about Yemen’s cooperation and inability to control tribal areas.

SANAA (Reuters) – Twenty-three suspected al Qaeda members broke out of a prison in the Yemeni capital Sanaa on Friday, a state-run Web site said.

The September 26 site (www.26sep.net) quoted unnamed sources as saying the group escaped from a central prison run by the state security forces “in the past few hours”.

The Web site, affiliated with Yemen’s armed forces, did not give further details and Yemeni officials were not immediately available to comment.

Unsurprising. Suspected or convicted?

JP The men were sentenced last year on various charges of terrorism, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press. They were being held at a detention center for military intelligence in San`a.

No further details were available.

The escape came a day before the trial of top al-Qaida suspect Mohammed Hamdi al-Ahdal and 14 others charged with involvement in terror operations in Yemen, particularly the 2000 suicide attack on the USS Cole.

They escaped from the military intelligence, the PSO also unsurprising.

In a tunnel and including a previously excaped Cole bomber per the comments. Update Rabeie and Badawi

Update 14 on the trial including an IED maker- “Another defendant admitted to the court that he was tasked with manufacturing electronic equipment to blow up explosives by remote control and timed explosive devices.” Wonder how long they’ll be in?