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| Europe |
| German Court Backs Extradition of Yemeni Suspects |
| 2003-07-21 |
| EFL A German court said Monday it had approved the extradition to the United States of two Yemeni citizens suspected of links to the al Qaeda network who were arrested in Frankfurt in January on a U.S. request. The men are Yemeni Muslim cleric Sheikh Mohammed Ali Hassan al-Mouyad and his assistant, Mohammed Moshen Yahya Zayed. U.S. authorities accuse the two of being al Qaeda supporters, but have not linked them directly with the September 11, 2001 hijacked airliner attacks on the United States. U.S. officials accuse Sheikh Mohammed, a preacher at Al Ihsan Mosque, one of the main mosques in Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, of being a significant fund-raiser for al Qaeda but not a financial official for al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. I guess that means he’s lower on the food chain. The Frankfurt court said in a statement the two men were suspected of membership of a "terrorist organization" and said one of the two was suspected of helping finance al Qaeda and the extremist wing of the Palestinian group Hamas, contributing to festive send-offs for suicide bombers. Both men belong to Yemen’s Islamic opposition Islah party, whose members have denounced the arrests and said the pair had no connection to al Qaeda. Sheikh Mohammed’s son has said the cleric went to Germany for medical treatment and denied he had any links to terrorist groups. He’s a preacher in a Yemeni mosque, I think membership in a terrorist group is part of the job description. The Frankfurt court said the United States had guaranteed that the men would not be tried by a military or any other extraordinary court and said the German government had to make a final decision on extradition. A normal federal court will do just fine. German law does not allow the extradition of suspects if they could face the death penalty in the state they are extradited to, but the court approved extradition in this case. If he’s only charged with fund raising, he wouldn’t be up for the death penalty anyway. "The international community must be able to use extraordinary, cross-border investigative measures to fight serious crimes of globally organized terrorist organizations," the court statement said. The court said the accused could appeal against the decision on the basis of new information or appeal to Germany’s highest court, the Constitutional Court. Thanks are on hold till they are handed over. |
| Posted by:Steve |
| #1 Can you say "olive branch"? I knew you could. |
| Posted by: PD 2003-7-21 7:50:07 PM |