Olmert. Conspiring with jihadists?
Photo: AP
Yemen tries Islamists for alleged contact with Olmert
Prosecution claims members of Yemeni Islamic Jihad sent email to PM offering to collaborate in attacks on government buildings
Olmert's terrorist buddies? A Yemeni court began on Saturday the trial of three Islamists accused of establishing contact with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and offering to collaborate with the Jewish state.
The three men are accused of operating under the name of Yemen's Islamic Jihad and spreading false news of attacks on government buildings, embassies and foreign interests in Yemen between May and September 2008.
Construction in Yemen
Smadar Peri
President Ali Abdullah Saleh announces plan to build secured residential compound for Jews in capital of San'a
The prosecution charged the main defendant, Bassam al-Haidari, 26, of writing directly to the prime minister of Israel by email, offering to work for the Jewish state.
"We are the Organization of Islamic Jihad and you are Jews, but you are honest, and we are ready to do anything," Haidari said in the email sent to Olmert, the prosecution charged.
The list of charges says Olmert responded to Haidari, also known as Abu al-Ghaith, welcoming his offer to collaborate.
"We are ready to support you to become an obstacle in the Middle East. We will support you as an agent," Olmert was quoted as writing back.
The group, which includes Imad al-Rimi, 23, and Ali al-Mahfal, 24, has also claimed in Internet messages signed by Abu al-Gaith that it prepared 16 car bombs to attack governmental buildings and embassies, according to the charges.
The three defendants denied all the charges and demanded a lawyer. The court agreed to their demand and adjourned the hearing to January 17.
Yemeni authorities rounded up six suspects in Sanaa shortly after a September 17 attack on the US embassy that killed 18 people.
The interior ministry said at the time that the arrested group included Abu al-Ghaith al-Yamani, who was the signatory of an Islamic Jihad claim of responsibility for the attack on the US mission.
Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh later that an Islamist "terrorist cell" with links to Israeli intelligence had been dismantled.
