Elbaneh behind bars

Lawyer of the al-Qaeda suspect Jaber Elbaneh challenged the appeal court decision that had ordered bringing Elbaneh back to prison.
In the appeal court session held today Tuesday June 3, Elbaneh was seen behind the defense bars for the first time since the beginning of trying the 36 al-Qaeda suspects.

The head of the Special appeal court Mohammed al-Hakimi had ordered to jail Elbaneh in response to the appeal presented by the General prosecution Saeed al-Aqel  in the last session held on May 18.

However in today's session, Elbaneh's lawyer Abdul Aziz al-Samawi challenged the appeal court decision which he said contradicted with the Yemeni law, since Elbaneh had surrendered himself to the authorities and committed himself to attend the court's sessions and presented the necessary commercial bail.

In today's session Elbaneh was seen behind bars surrounded by the other suspects chatting with them calmly.
Elbaneh never talked or interfered in the procedures of the  court session giving chance for his lawyer to play his role.

The lawyer presented a new bail from a commercial company demanding to release defendant Elbaneh.
The court adjourned looking into the demand of the lawyer until the coming session on June, 28, 2008.

Elbaneh was convicted by the first court to be jailed for ten years .Elbaneh and  35 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 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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