Posted on 02/23/2008 7:07:18 PM PST by NormsRevenge
SAN`A, Yemen - A Yemeni-American who is among the FBI's most wanted terrorism suspects appeared in a Yemeni court Saturday and then walked free, an eyewitness said.
Jaber Elbaneh, 41, attended a session of the trial for him and 22 others charged in connection with a series of attacks on oil facilities.
"He entered the courtroom surrounded by four bodyguards, introduced himself to the judge then he left," an eyewitness said speaking on condition of anonymity because of security concerns.
Footage of Elbaneh entering and leaving the court unimpeded also appeared on the Dubai-based pan-Arab satellite channel, al-Arabiya.
Security authorities have declined to comment on Elbaneh's legal situation.
Elbaneh is a former resident of Lackawanna, N.Y. He left the United States in spring 2001 as part of a larger group that authorities said traveled to Osama bin Laden's al-Farooq training camp in Afghanistan.
In May 2003, U.S. prosecutors charged Elbaneh in absentia with conspiring with a group known as the "Lackawanna Six" to provide material support or resources to a foreign terrorist organization.
The U.S. asked Yemen to hand over Elbaneh and while he was subsequently arrested by authorities in January 2004, he was never extradited.
Elbaneh and 22 other prisoners broke out of their Yemeni jail in February 2006 by digging a tunnel to a nearby mosque. Elbaneh surrendered in May to Yemeni authorities but was never sent back to jail despite the ongoing trial.
The U.S. is offering up to $5 million for information leading to his arrest.
Al-Qaida has an active presence in Yemen despite government efforts to destroy the network. The group was blamed for the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole that killed 17 American sailors and an attack on a French oil tanker, the Limburg, that killed one person two years later.
Yemeni-American Jaber Elbaneh, 41, one of the FBI's 26 'most wanted' for terrorism, appears at a session of his trial in a court in San'a, Yemen Saturday, Feb. 23, 2008. Accompanied by bodyguards, Elbaneh attended a session of the trial for him and other al-Qaida members charged for a series attacks on oil facilities, but then walked free apparently not subject to any form of incarceration, according to eyewitnesses. (AP Photo/Mohammed Al-Qadhi)
Jaber al-Banna, also known as Jaber Elbaneh, who is on the list of the most wanted terrorists by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) with a reward of $5 million for information leading to his arrest, attends the first hearing into his case at a state security court of appeals in Sanaa February 23, 2008. He was sentenced in absentia to ten years in prison by a lower court on November 7, 2007 over his role in al Qaeda's attacks on oil and gas facilities in Yemen in 2006. REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah (YEMEN)
He seriously needs to feel the wrath of a Predator-launched Hellfire missile.
Seems unclear whether he’s really “free”. Sometimes all is not as it seems, and it wouldn’t surprise me if there’s an understanding between US and Yemeni authorities that he will be tried there, while we pretend to keep trying to get hold of him to try him here.
If I was on trial for very serious criminal acts, I’d sure as heck rather be on trial here than in Yemen. Elbaneh would probably rather be tried here too, which is why I rather doubt he’s actually free to come and go as he pleases. The Yemeni court system will kill people who it deems deserve it, and not after 20-30 years of 3 square meals a day, exercise facilities, cable TV, medical care, etc.
Yemen
On 12 October 2000, two suicide bombers detonated a small boat containing explosives alongside the USS Cole as it was refueling in Aden harbor. Seventeen US sailors were killed and 39 others were wounded.
On 6 October 2002, the French oil tanker Limburg was the target of a terrorist attack in the Gulf of Aden, which killed one crewmember and released 90,000 barrels of oil. An explosives-laden boat hit the tanker, in an attack that was similar to the one on the USS Cole.
In December 2002, a North Korean freighter disguised as a Cambodian ship was intercepted in the Arabian Sea and seized at gun point by the US Navy and Spanish marines; the vessel was carrying a shipment bound for Yemen of 15 Scud missiles, warheads, and an agent used in Scud fuel. President Bush ordered the shipment released after concluding the Yemen-North Korean deal was concluded on a legal basis. Also in December, a Yemeni Muslim extremist killed three American doctors and wounded a pharmacist by opening fire in a Baptist hospital in the town of Jibla.
http://www.nationsencyclopedia.com/Asia-and-Oceania/Yemen-HISTORY.html
Now here is a nation I would have had any problems with in making it into a giant parking lot. With friends like Yemen.... when will we ever learn?
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1963607/posts?page=1027#1027
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1963607/posts?page=1028#1028
Thank you Norm for posting the photos.
Now here is a nation I would have had any problems with in making it into a giant parking lot. With friends like Yemen.... when will we ever learn?
Not any time soon with Jorge preaching some suicidal form of compassion.
Instead of “learning” we allow their very large “blended” families to come here...and you wouldn’t believe their mosques and the stuff they preach!
I’ll never forget the festival atmosphere in Lackawanna when 9-11 happened.
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