Arrest campaign continues, targets of terrorist activities announced Arduous task [Archives:2003/04/Front Page]
Yemeni authorities arrested last week two people from al-Eman university affiliated to Sheikh Abdulmajeed Al-Zindani of the Islah Party. Reliable sources said that the intelligence arrested Wednesday a student at al-Eman university named Abduljabar al-Marwani. He was taken from his house at Sa’wan district North East of Sanaa. Two days earlier, the authorities arrested Dr. Ahmad al-Daghshi, a professor at Sana’a and al-Eman universities. The two persons were detained as their names were mentioned during interrogations with the killers of Jarallah Omar and the US doctors. Al-Marwani was wanted by the security but his arrest was made later as he was outside Sana’a; he has been in Dhamar doing some practical studies at al-Eman university. Once he arrived in Sana’a , police arrested him for interrogation.
Al-Daghshi was snatched from the street by the intelligence without the knowledge of his family, which learned that he was in prison several days later. It is believed that his name was mentioned during investigations with the two killers.
Investigations with the detainees have proven they were all form a fundamentalist Jihad movement headed by Ali Jarallah, assassin of Jarallah Omar, YSP Assistant Secretary General. According to the investigators, the cell members were planning to carry out terrorist operations and assassinations targeting several foreign interests as well as politicians, writers and journalists for allegedly adopting and calling for secularism. Among the list of names were: Salem Saleh Mohammed former presidential member, Abdulamailk al-Mikhlafi Secretary General of Nasserite Unionist Party, Dr. Kassim Salam Secretary of Ba’ath Party, Dr. Abdulaziz al-Makaleh President’s cultural advisor, Adbulbari Taher former chairman of Yemeni journalists syndicate, Nasr Taha Mustafa head of Saba News Agency, Dr. Abu Bakr al-Saqqaf, Ali al-Surary head of the YSP information and media department, Ahmad al-Hubaishi, Mohammed al-Makaleh a writer, Sameer al-Yusufi editor of al-Thaqafiah Weekly, and others. The list is said to have included over 30 persons.
Investigations are reported to have proved a link between the cell and the Yemeni Jihad movement whose members were educated at the hands of the Egyptian Jihad movement members who were deported from Yemen some years ago. The Yemeni authorities have also launched an arrest campaign against the Yemeni Jihad members since 1998, which coincided with a similar campaign against Aden-Abyan Islamic Army members after the Abyan fiasco in which some foreign tourists were killed. The government announced in late 1999 the execution of the army chief , Abu Al-Hasan al-Mihdar.
Observers believe that the discovery of the Ali Jarallah’s cell and making sure that it has links with Jihad indicates that there are sleepy cells of Jihad, Aden army and others which might find a match with al-Qaeda whose members are still being hunted down by the authorities, mainly those people whose names were mentioned in the FBI’s lists like Abu Assem al-Ahdal and Fawaz al-Rabee.
To meet the challenges of these groups, the Interior ministry announced last week that it is going to launch the second phase of the electronic monitoring on some important places and streets in the capital. It will install cameras that are connected to an operation room in the ministry which will make it easier for the security people to monitor any terrorist activities and thwart them. This phase will target 15 important places. The ministry announced earlier this month that a new security plan to fight terrorism and control outlaws will be initiated.
This, of course, shows that the fight on terrorism is representing the real challenge of the government which will spend a lot on these pans at the expanse of development.
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