SANAA, 13 June 2004 — Yemeni security authorities imposed restrictions yesterday on media coverage of the trial of 14 people charged with terrorism offenses, denying journalists access to the courtroom.
Reporters working for local and international media were prevented from attending the hearing and were only briefed after the session by one of the defense lawyers.
The lawyer, Muhammad Naji Allaw, said the ban was not imposed by the court, but rather by security authorities.
“It is not the decision of the court. Security authorities are acting beyond the court’s orders,” he said, adding that such restrictions would “raise doubts on the fairness of the trial procedures.”
The defendants face various charges, some of them with involvement in the October 2002 bombing of a French supertanker off the southeastern coast of Yemen.
The trial began on May 29 with four of the defendants accused of planning and carrying out the attack on the supertanker Limburg. A fifth suspect in the attack is being tried in absentia. The five are accused of buying a boat that was loaded with explosives before it rammed the tanker at the Al-Dhabba port. One Bulgarian crew member was killed in the attack.
Ten of the defendants are charged with attacking a helicopter belonging to the US company Hunt Oil after take-off from Sanaa International Airport in March 2003.
All 14 are collectively accused of carrying out bombings near Political Security Organization (intelligence) buildings and the homes of three top intelligence officials in 2003. No one was hurt in the attacks.
Nine are charged with planning suicide attacks on foreign embassies, and plotting to assassinate US Ambassador Edmund J. Hull.
Last week, the legal team representing the suspects withdrew from the case in protest, saying the defendants were being denied a fair trial. But Allaw said yesterday the team had decided to continue defending the suspects. The court adjourned the trial until June 19 to give lawyers time to study the case and meet their clients.
