Armies of Liberation

Saudi arrests 149 militants, most linked to Qaeda in Yemen ABC: Saudi Arabia has arrested 149 suspected Al Qaeda-linked militants in 19 separate cells planning attacks on state officials, foreigners and journalists, according to the interior ministry.

The arrests, which took place over the past eight months, involved both Saudi and foreign nationals with links to Al Qaeda operations mainly in Yemen, but also in Afghanistan and Somalia, interior ministry spokesman General Mansur al-Turki told reporters. (Read on …)

A journalist for the state news agency, SABA, Shaea had interviewed Anwar al Awlaki, who is his good friend according to Shaea’s statements at the time. Earlier Shaea had interviewed Nasir al Wahishi and later interviewed Fahd al Quso for al Jazeera. He is being charged with promoting AQAP, but interviews are not a crime. Abdulelah was reportedly scouting targets for al Qaeda attacks and encouraging the assassination of President Saleh and his son, Prince Ahmed. His arrest comes amid an ongoing and worsening crackdown on the media in Yemen and after appearances on al Jazeera that displeased the regime.

RSF press release via Bikyamasr: When the fourth hearing in imprisoned journalist Abdul Ilah Haydar Shae’s trial was held before a special state security court in Sanaa today, prosecutors submitted the contents of his computer as evidence but his lawyer accused them of deception, pointing out that they had produced the computer seized when he was briefly arrested on 11 July, not the one seized when he was arrested a second time on 16 August. (Read on …)

The trial of the murderer of the French engineer continues. The issue is whether it was a personal dispute or an al Qaeda motivated act of violence. Apparently Anwar was renting out a flat and the accused was communicating with him via his cousin. Awlaki was charged in absentia in the same case.

Ray News Sana – UPI – Attorney General introduced the Yemeni state security court in Sana’a, what he saw as evidence to prove the involvement of French is accused of murdering in a relationship with hard-line American of Yemeni origin Anwar al-Awlaki, and his cousin Osman, accused of instigating the killing of foreigners. (Read on …)

That would work out, no? They are both Americans, Jaber Elbaneh of the Lackawanna Seven cell from Buffalo. Sharif Mobley’s trial was delayed again due to the lack of a translator, again. See Yemen Post. Also as much as Mobley’s lawyer is insisting that he is not an al Qaeda operative, and he is only charged with the murder of the guard in the hospital, the brothers are making Dua for him, along with a variety of other al Qaeda prisoners globally, in the latest issue of Inspire. Where is Elbaneh anyway? Still home in Ibb?

Aaron notes its a South Korean pipeline. South Korea divested some of its holding in the LNG project after the lethal terror attack on the South Koran tourists in March 09. And France’s TOTAL is the developer of the LNG project and a major stake holder. France was recently warned by the Saudis about an AQAP plot and is on alert. Just a coincidence I’m sure.

Korean Times:
Tuesday’s explosion at a South Korean oil pipeline in southern Yemen was apparently a bomb attack, raising concerns about the safety of Koreans abroad. There is no confirmation about who was behind the blast and what prompted it, although al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) has claimed responsibility for the bombing….Yemen has already emerged as a breeding ground for al-Qaida terrorists. Four South Korean tourists were killed in a bomb attack in the historic city of Shibam, 90 kilometers east of the Yemeni capital Sanaa on March 15, 2009. About three months later, a Korean female aid worker was killed by rebels.

(Read on …)

For more on the engineer’s murder, click here. It is unclear if Awlaki also had a hand in the plot that prompted Saudi Arabia’s warning to France, but its not beyond reason. Per al Sahwa: Asim communicated with Anwar Awlaki through the Internet via email hotmail and asked Anwar to travel abroad to fight the foreigners, but when Anwar learned that the Assem worked in the Austrian company, he abetted to kill foreign workers in the company.

In predictable related developments, Yemen launched massive manhunt for al Asiri as donors plan to increase aid.

Al Awlaki charged with plotting and incitement to murder foreigners – Yemen charged on Tuesday during a trial in absentia American-Yemeni Islamic cleric Anwar al-Awlaki with plotting and incitement to murder foreigners, including a French expert who was killed early last month in Sana’a. (Read on …)

NPR: Only hours after White House counterterrorism adviser John Brennan said he was “confident” that a 22-year-old woman detained Saturday in Yemen had mailed the bomb-laden parcels, government officials in the country said they had released her, citing an apparent case of identity theft.

Update 2: Her father denies the HOOD report of being tortured.

Update: She was released this evening. And her name is Hanan Al Samawi not Sahar Al Samawi. Second HOOD statement below and seems to indicate the phone chip in the bomb was registered in her name. Update 2: Yemeni govt says she is a victim of identity theft.

Original: Yemen follows its normal practices, despite the global attention on this woman: illegal procedures during the arrest, incommunicado detention, failure to charge her or notify her family in a timely manner, beatings and cruel treatment, and denial of access by her lawyers. These are the National Security’s standard routines in dealing with journalists and activists in Yemen as well as random innocent people who get rounded up (alleged Houthis and southern protesters and so on). Its certainly odd she would leave her phone number when mailing the package if she was aware of the contents, and likely she was duped into taking part in the plot. Its not unusual for al Qaeda to exploit vulnerable people, this is the organization that uses mentally retarded children as suicide bombers and blackmails homosexuals to guarantee their participation. At the same time, women have taken a higher profile in the al Qaeda cult.

In related news, students at Sanaa University held a protest because they believe she’s a scapegoat. In an interview with the Yemen Post, the girl’s father, Mohammed Al-Samawi, an Engineer at the Ministry of Agriculture and Water, said his daughter is innocent and he believes that there is a “big misunderstanding.” The YP reports the suspect’s name as Hanan Al-Samawi, and that her mother, Amatulillah Mohammed, who was also imprisoned, is in bad medical condition according to HOOD.

Called on the Attorney General to assume responsibility

Hanan al Samawi subjected to torture, Moses Alnmrani, HOOD

Hood learned from private sources that Hanan al Samawi had been subjected to beatings and cruel treatment and humiliation during her arrest by members of the National Security Agency, and torture during the investigation within the prison with the National Security Agency, which is a crime punishable under international law and the law of Yemen. (Read on …)

Saudi authorities had no information about him before his arrest and haven’t been notified of his arrest.

Riyadh, Asharq Al-Awsat – The Saudi Arabian Interior Ministry informed Asharq Al-Awsat yesterday that it had not received any information from Yemen implicating Yemeni national Saleh al-Rimi of involvement with the Al Qaeda organization. (Read on …)

The Saudi view of the al Fayfi surrender. Earlier reporting here including the alert on France. The murderer of the French engineer was a fan of Anwar Awlaki.

JEDDAH: The Ministry of Interior is expected to release details soon of a Saudi on its 2009 list of persons wanted in connection with security issues who has expressed the wish to return from Afghanistan, sources have told Okaz/Saudi Gazette.
The move would reduce the list to 70, following the ministry statement Friday announcing the return of Jabir Bin Jibran Ali Al-Faifi from Yemen.
A Yemeni official told Okaz/Saudi Gazette that security authorities in the Lawdar area of the Abyan province in south Yemen took Al-Faifi into custody on Sep. 9 after he had informed them of his whereabouts with other members of the so-called Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and his desire to hand himself in.
The official said that a second member of the organization, Jalal Al-Saidi, handed himself in at the same time in Lawdar, and that the two events happened during a two-week long Yemeni security forces campaign in Ramadan in pursuit of Al-Qaeda members who managed to flee. (Read on …)

Al Qaity was killed in August ‘09 after the attack on the security station in Sayoun. Al Qaity and al Qamish, the head of the PSO, became antagonistic after the mortar attacks on the embassies early in ‘09. al Qaity was enraged with al Qamish about something or other. The odd thing about the mortar attacks is the streets were clear afterwards, and in three attacks, the attackers got away clean every time and all the mortars missed.

CRI: A Yemeni security court on Monday sentenced convicted al-Qaida bombmaker Saleh al-Shawish to death, official Saba news agency reported.

Al-Shawish made no appeal against the verdict as he proudly admitted to be affiliated to the Yemen-based regional wing al- Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), said Saba. In the previous trial by the Sanaa-based security court, al- Shawish confessed to the jury that he had taken part in seven military operations planned by the AQAP. (Read on …)

Al Fifi was arrested in Abyan on September 4. At least he didnt have a bomb up his butt like the last AQAP who surrendered to the Saudis. Our earlier post on al Fayfi is here. More at Naba.

SABA: Wanted Saudi surrenders to authorities

RIYADH, Oct. 15 (Saba)- A former Guantanamo prisoner who later joined Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), has repented and given himself up to the Saudi security authorities. In a statement issued on Friday, the spokesman of the Saudi Interior Ministry said that the wanted Saudi national Jabir Bin-Jubran Bin-Ali al-Fayfi has surrendered to his country’s authorities. The Saudi official added that al-Fayfi’s return to Saudi Arabia was coordinated with the security authorities in Yemen.

They denied planning attacks in Yemen but admitted to fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, not a problem there.

12 Qaeda suspects appear in Yemen court
(AFP) – ADEN — Twelve Al-Qaeda suspects appeared in a special court on Monday in the southeastern port of Mukalla charged with terrorism-linked offences, a Yemeni judiciary official said. (Read on …)

RSF: efforts to combat terrorism do not justify such practices against Yemeni journalists

SANAA – Yemeni journalist Abdul Ilah Haydar Shae, who has been detained since mid-August, appears to have been tortured, media rights watchdog Reporters Without Borders said on Saturday.

Journalists’ union head Marwan Damaj, “who managed to see him during his 22 September court appearance, said that he had been tortured,” RSF said.

“There were visible signs of injury, including to his chest. He has been regularly hit with a gun butt and has a broken tooth,” it said. “Nothing can justify the use of torture,” RSF said. (Read on …)

Well at least we know that he’s in jail.

USS Cole bomber Jamal al Badawi goes on hunger strike

Translated by: Alia Qahtan, edited by: Jane Novak
Hood Online, (The National Organization for Defending Rights and Freedoms)

Jamal al Badawi has been on a hunger strike for 15 days demanding his release from Political Security prison. .

Convicted in the USS Cole bombing Al Badawi was one of 23 inmates who escaped from the political police prison in Sana’a 2006 in the so called the great escape. He turned himself in to the Yemeni authorities in mid-October 2007, when he was accused of his belonging to Al-Qaeda

The government promised if Al-Badawi submitted himself to the Yemeni authority, the Yemeni government would release him to have a normal life, a close resource to Al-Badawi revealed.

Jamal’s father said he was finally able to visit his son and found him a critical health condition. He was prevented from seeing him several weeks ago. (Read on …)

Of course they did.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) : As many as 15,000 people – most of whom are children – have been displaced by the recent clashes, which are based around Mayfa’a district in Shabwah governorate. Air strikes have been reported, UNICEF said yesterday.

Yemen Observer: Al-Qaeda retaliated shortly after Yemen’s security forces drove them out of al-Huta village, in the southern province of Shabwa earlier this week.

Al-Qaeda tried, unsuccessfully late Wednesday , to assassinate the military, security and political leaders who led and supervised the campaign against them in al-Huta.

One soldier was killed and seven others injured when al-Qaeda fighters ambushed the governor of Shabwa Ali Al Ahmadi, deputy chief of general staff, Salem Al Kotn, security director, Ahmad Al Makdashi and other officials in the area of Yashbom, between Atak and al-Saeed. Security forces are chasing after the attackers who used RPGs to strike the convoy of officials. (Read on …)

There are many, many al-Qaeda on the payroll of the Political Security Organization. Earlier reporting on this trial can be found here. Today’s trial update comes from al Sahwa, also see Yemen Post. Apparently they wanted him to take the fall for the botched suicide attack on the British Ambassador but forgot to tell him. These defendants were touted as the gang that organized the plot on Torlot but the court didn’t charge them with the attack, only with the vague charge of plotting.

Yemen court asks intelligence official witness on al-Qaeda, 3/10/2010 – Sahwa Net

Sahwa Net- The Specialized Penal Court has asked an intelligence official to attend the court on the upcoming Sunday to witness whether an al-Qaeda suspect, Badr al-Hassani was an intelligence informant.

Al-Hasani said his work as an agent would be verified by an intelligence officer named Abdullah al-Ashul, who was summoned to witness before the court.

Al-Hassani along with other three al-Qaeda suspects, including a German and an Iraqi, are being tried on charges of involving in plotting to carry out terrorist acts against tourists, foreign installations, Yemen’s security and military.

Update: Houthis issue a statement that seems to indicate that the prior al Qaeda statement demanding Hussain al Tais’s release is bogus and a pretext to begin bombing markets under the guise of counter-terror. And while the Houthis do have quite a conspiratorial view of al Qaeda, the interesting thing about the several questionable al Qaeda attacks over the years, which were claimed in internet statements by al Qaeda, is that if they are false flag attacks, the “real” al Qaeda never disputed that the statements of responsibility. Original Arabic below but my formatting is messed up.

Subject: Houthi: prosecution of al-Qaeda “flimsy excuses”
‫ in a statement issued by the office of Abdul-Malik al-leader of the movement Alhotheip North Yemen, he said that in response to al Qaeda statement and explanation of events and facts were stated, “to the awareness and vision of society in general, shatter all the plots that target directly in order to stir up sectarian strife, sectarian and tarnish the image of the nation which adhered to approach the Holy Quran and the household of prophecy ”

He touched on the statement arrived in the crowd Net to the hijacking of the Deputy Director of Political Security in Ramadan, “In the month of Ramadan have been kidnapped, deputy director of political security of the central governorate of Saada hot Officers On Monday, 9/20/2010 issued a so-called al Qaeda in the island Arabs adopted a statement which the process of abduction, deputy director of political security that have occurred in the 08/26/2010 statement comes after the adoption process (24) days of the kidnapping incident .. ”

The statement added: “Here, put a lot of question marks that confirm that all the incidents that take place in the northern provinces aimed at opening the door of the bombings and killing people in mosques and markets of those flimsy arguments (the so-called pursuit of al-Qaeda members) …. (Read on …)

Now they are chasing them in the mountains. Twelve thousand citizens displaced, two mosques and five houses destroyed. Six soldiers, three al Qaeda and five civilians killed in the week long siege of Hota. Twenty-eight al Qaeda suspects arrested with unknown identities. I’m not sure the military ever took the city.

Yemen Post: The security authorities said on Friday they had cleared Al-Hawta town in Yemen’s Southeastern Shabwa Province of the Al-Qaeda fighters who fought the authorities over this week. (Read on …)

We have this news posted earlier but not in original English. News Yemen which also attended the session reported Badr al Hassani said he was paid by the PSO to train al Qaeda in Marib in hand to hand combat. Once at a conference, I met some securocrat contractor who said emphatically that the corruption in the security forces and collusion with al Qaeda doesn’t go as high as the head of the PSO, Ghalib al Qamish. I almost spit my coffee on the floor. That was 2008.

SANA’A, Sept. 20 — The trial of two Yemenis, a German, and an Iraqi accused of damaging foreign interests and attacking military targets in Yemen started on Monday at the Specialized Criminal Court in Sana’a.

Badr Al-Hassani, 22, Rami Hens, 16, Abdullah Al-Rawi, 16, and Saddam Al-Raimi, 22, stood accused of “participating in criminal acts, damaging foreign interests in the country, damaging military establishments, facing the state in the Marib governorate, training with weapons, forming secrets cells and being ready to commit suicide operations.” (Read on …)

Twenty-eight arrested al Qaeda are being interrogated to determine their identities. Dropping paratroopers behind them is a new skill. It sounds like this assault actually had a plan in advance.

ISA: Yemen’s security forces arrested 28 suspects of resurgent al-Qaida militancy on Wednesday in areas surrounding Hota town of the southeast Shabwa province where a massive military offensive is taking place, Defense Ministry said.

The suspects were being interrogated by security authorities to question their identities and connection with the al-Qaida fighters besieged by government troops in Hota town, the ministry’ s news website quoted security director of Shabwa, Ahmad al- Magdashi, as saying. (Read on …)