Forgers tried, deny prosecution’s charges [Archives:2006/952/Local News]

SANA'A, June 3 ) The State Security Specialized Penal Court (SSSPC) began the trials of the 23 suspects who are accused of forging national identification documents and passports as well as aiding and abetting the bombers of the USS Cole on Saturday.

Judge Najeeb Al-Qadri chaired the session. The court secretary read out the indictment filed by the prosecution that stated that the principal suspect forged official identification documents for non-Yemenis and that suspect 23 harbored a Saudi national wanted by the Saudi government.

The prosecutor read out the causes of the charges and the confessions made by the suspects during investigations. He said the suspects confessed to counterfeiting national identification documents and passports in order to facilitate their travel to Iraq to fight against the American and British occupation. However, the defendants denied all charges levied at them and urged the court to release them on bail.

Prosecution officials said that 315 al-Qaeda suspects were recently released due to insufficient evidence incriminating them. Additionally, eight al-Qaeda associates, who surrendered after tunneling out of a political security prison in Sana'a last February, have been freed, except the suspect Ahmad al-Raimi who has been described as “the most dangerous” of the bunch. Officials noted that 12 security personnel will be tried before a military court over the February jailbreak of 23 al-Qaeda convicts. Most of the escapees remain at large.
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