Sanaa, Yemen – A Yemeni court today condemned an Islamist to death for establishing contact with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and offering to collaborate with the Jewish state.
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Bassam al-Haidari, 26, was found guilty of writing directly to the prime minister of Israel by email, offering to work for the Jewish state.
Another defendant Imad al-Rimi, 23, was sentenced to five years in prison and Ali al-Mahfal, 24, to three.
“The court… sentences the first defendant to death in the case of making illegal contact with the Zionist Jewish Israeli entity,” judge Hassan Elwan said.
“This is unfair, you have sentenced me without any proof of these accusations,” Mahfal shouted from the caged dock.
The prosecution charged Haidari with corresponding with Olmert through emails, one of which said: “We are the Organisation of Islamic Jihad and you are Jews, but you are honest, and we are ready to do anything.”
The charge sheet said 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.
The group also claimed in Internet messages signed by Abu al-Gaith that it prepared 16 car bombs to attack government buildings and embassies, according to the prosecution.
Yemeni authorities rounded up six suspects in the capital Sanaa. Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh later that an Islamist “terrorist cell” with links to Israeli intelligence had been dismantled.
The defendants said they wanted to appeal.
The impoverished Arabian Peninsula country, awash with weapons, is the ancestral home of Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden.
It is also home to a tiny Jewish minority of about 400 people.
So for miling a jew you go free for a e mail you get killed what a country
And they wonder why their countries are so cursed and so poor.
If Al Gaith is guilty of what he is being accused, there is nothing out of line here. Conspiring to spy is a treacherous offense in any country. He is also alleged of operating a terror cell which is responsible for placing 16 car-bombs. So what’s the big deal here?
why dont they claim that he is retarted and crazy so he will be free as the jew who killed nharei, oh i guess now it wont work anymore.
Somehow emails like “We are ready to support you as an obstacle” sound pretty fake to me. What did the other emails say? “We are willing to get you the blood of many children for your Zionist plans”? I’m sure this guy wanted nothing more than to help Israel fight peace so much that he handed these incriminatingly insane emails to his own government. Not only that, how did he “try to contact Olmert?” By looking up his email on the government website which Yemen is blocking? I don’t think so.
It doesn’t add up.