Abdulatif’s lawyer denies her release [Archives:2007/1056/Front Page]

Fatima Al-Ajel
SANA'A, June 3 ) Supreme Court lawyer Shadha Mohammed Nasser, who is Amina Ali Abdulatif's attorney, has stated that her client remains in prison, refuting several official newspaper reports regarding Abdulatif's release.

“What was mentioned in the newspapers is incorrect and I wonder how official government newspapers can publish such news,” Nasser said.

Abdulatif, a wife and mother who was just 16 when she was accused of killing her husband Hizam, has been imprisoned since 1997.

In its issue No. 1330, September 26 newspaper published that the high court is satisfied with the time Abdulatif has spent in prison, so she's now free. She must pay only blood money to her husband's family and fast for two consecutive months as atonement.

Numerous international human rights organizations have interacted with Abdulatif's case, requesting the government reconsider her situation as an accused teenager. Yemeni law prohibits executing those found guilty of committing a crime under age 18.

Nasser clarified that the Mahwit Primary Court pronounced the following sentence upon Abdulatif on May 30: 10 years' imprisonment, paying blood money to her husband's family, a YR 500,000 fine to be paid to lawyers and fasting for two consecutive months as atonement.

According to Nasser, the husband's family rejected the release sentence, as well as the blood money, instead requesting approval of Abdulatif's death sentence. Following the court's sentence, President Ali Abdullah Saleh ordered Abdulatif to pay her husband's family YR 10 million, but the family rejected that too.

“I've spent more than 10 years in prison, but right now, I don't know my future,” Abdulatif lamented.
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