The trial of 15 Yemeni terror suspects began last Saturday in Sanaa, Peter Willems reports Amid tight security 14 of 15 Yemenis accused of engaging in "terrorist" activities appeared in court at the beginning of a landmark trial. Five are charged with the bombing of the French tanker Limburg off the coast of Yemen in 2002 while all those standing trial are charged for planning to kill United States' Ambassador Edmund Hull and attack the embassies of the US, Germany, France, Britain and Cuba. One is being tried in absentia. It is reported that the five charged with the tanker bombing said they followed orders from Qaed Salim Sinan Al- Harethi, once a key member of Al-Qaeda in Yemen. Al-Harethi was killed in 2002 by a missile attack from a CIA-operated drone in the Marib province, 100 kilometres east of Sanaa. The public prosecution claims that the 15 suspects planned to assassinate the US ambassador to avenge the death of Al- Harethi. The trial is being held amid tight security at a special court that handles cases related to state security, bombings and kidnappings. Armed security personnel and armoured vehicles surrounded the courthouse during the first day of the trial. The suspects will be given a "fair trial. They are going to have the same rights as any other person charged for a crime," a judicial source told Al-Ahram Weekly. "They will be innocent until proven guilty." But international human rights watchdog Amnesty International said in its recently released 2003 report that hundreds of terror suspects have been detained in Yemen without due process. The report states that through 2003 "up to 200 people arrested in the months following September 2001 continued to be detained without charge or trial outside any judicial process. They were denied access to lawyers." Yemeni Minister of Human Rights Amat Al-Aleem Alsoswa admits that it has not been easy for Yemen to balance human rights and its war on terror: "We stand [by the rule that] that, generally, all the detainees have to have access to lawyers, be accused legally, be presented before a public [court] and be given a fair trial. It is very difficult to fight terrorism and maintain full human rights. But we are trying to make it less difficult. Again, it has been a very difficult issue. I do not say we have solved it fully, but progress has been made and there will be more progress." The Yemeni government has adopted unique methods to release detained suspects. The Dialogue Committee, established in 2002, tries to persuade alleged terrorists to move away from violence and focus on peace and tolerance, using the Qur'an as a tool. Up until now, 246 jailed terrorist suspects have been released after repenting before the Dialogue Committee. The Yemeni government has also put a number of released suspects on its army payroll. "They don't report to work. It's a source of security to the country," said Abdul-Karim Al-Ariani, former Yemeni prime minister and adviser to President Ali Abdullah Saleh. "The biggest social welfare system in the country is the army and the police." According to the judicial source, the trial of a dozen suspects charged with bombing the USS Cole in the port of Aden in 2000 -- killing 17 American soldiers -- will be held in a few weeks. Fourteen of the suspects now on trial refused to present a plea until they were appointed lawyers. One suspect who was not charged for the attack on the Limburg pleaded not guilty to the other charges. The trial was adjourned until Tuesday, to allow lawyers to be appointed.
