release of 104 detainees reconfirmed by sources Around 100 detainees still in prison [Archives:2002/34/Front Page]

Sanaa, Saturday 17 Aug. (YT)In a statement to Yemen Times, Member of Parliament Amin Al-Ukaimi reconfirmed the news report published in Yemen Times in issue (31/2002) about the release of 104 detainees despite news reports published in some newspapers denying this news item.
Amin al-Ukaimi told the Yemen Times that 104 detainees have been released after providing guarantees to the concerned authorities not to be involved in the future with any groups that could carry out terrorist attacks in Yemen. According to Amin, those detainees were detained following the arrest campaign launched by the security apparatus against suspect members of radical movements.
Yemen Times also interviewed one of the 104 released detainees, who told the Yemen Times on the condition of anonymity that even though tens of detainees were indeed released, around 100 of them are still in the PSO jails in various governorates of Yemen. They have been in detention for having possible links with al-Qaeda elements, thought to be behind the USS Cole and September 11 attacks.
The source added that among those 104 who were released were Egyptians who were deported out of the country. Those include:
– Abu Bakr Al-Masri
– Abu Mohammed Al-Masri
– Abulmajeed Al-Masri
A number of Indonesians and Algerians who were arrested in the past were also among the 104 released detainees deported, who were sent out of Yemen. Yemen Times abstains from publishing the names of released Yemeni detainees based on their own desire.
According to the source, the number of detainees in Ibb governorate for example has been reduced from 28 to 11. They have been released under certain guarantees.
President Ali Abdullah Saleh mentioned in an interview with Annass newspaper that a number of detainees have indeed been released after they were found innocent of charges they were accused of.
It is worth mentioning that the confirmed number of released detainees describes the scale of the arrest campaign launched by the Yemeni authorities, which resulted in the arrest of a huge number of people.
Campaigns launched by the security authorities were concentrated against those who returned from Afghanistan, some mosque preachers, members of radical Islamic groups, and those suspected of belonging to whom have called themselves al-Qaeda sympathizers.
At the international level, the Athowra daily newspaper mentioned last week that 30 Yemenis are still in detention by the US authorities under the pretext of the war against terrorism.

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