Al-Qaeda suspect Elbaneh imprisoned

The Appeal Court in Sana'a ordered the imprisonment of al-Qaeda suspect Jaber Elbaneh in its session held today in Sana'a.

The Court's order was issued by Judge Mohammed al-Hakimi who justified it as being as an implementation of the verdict issued by the first court that sentenced Elbaneh to 10 years imprisonment.

The political security personnel arrested al- Elbaneh immediately and took him from the court hall to the political security prison.

The order came during the Appeal Court's session for trying 36 al-Qaeda suspects accused of committing terrorist acts in Yemen, including the bombing of some oil facilities in Marib and al-Dhabah of Hadramout in 2006. They are also accused of planning to attack several foreign interests and governmental institutions, as well as public places, including main hotels.

The court also ordered the general prosecution to publish the photos of the suspect Fahd Saleh al-Hawani who is still at large and also for the prosecution to respond to the requests presented by the suspects that demanded they be released.

The judge also ordered the general prosecution to oblige the jail's administration to provide health care for the suspects.

The suspects organized armed gangs which committed criminal acts, terrorized people and destabilized security. They recruited youths and trained them in weapons handling and car bombs in order to carry out terrorist attacks.

Suspects 1 to14, according to the prosecution’s report, were part of armed gangs which threatened community security. They were preparing to attack foreigners living at the Shahran Hotel and the Yemenis and foreigners living around the Ramada Hadda Hotel. They made a survey of the area and prepared the explosives, cars, weapons and disguises for the operations.

They rented training facilities and had distributed the roles of youth recruitment, training and surveillance of the targeted areas amongst themselves.

Elbaneh who had escaped from the prison of the political security along with 23 others in 2005 had surprisingly surrendered himself to the appeal court last February and alleged not guilty.

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