SANAA: A Sanaa court on Thursday cleared five Saudi nationals of charges of joining an Al-Qaeda plot to attack Yemen's security forces but jailed two of them for entering the country illegally.
The five, arrested in June, faced charges of plotting, "in association with an armed group belonging to Al-Qaeda to carry out criminal acts against members of the security forces in Yemen," official media reported earlier this month.
They were cleared of the charges on Thursday for lack of evidence, according to the verdict read by Judge Hilal Mahfal in a court in Sanaa.
Two of the group were sentenced to 18 months in prison each after being convicted of forging identity documents and entering Yemen illegally. The remaining three defendants were sentenced to time already spent in detention and now face deportation to Saudi Arabia.
Yemen is the ancestral home of Al-Qaeda founder Osama Bin Laden and home base of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the network's deadliest franchise according to the United States.
AQAP was formed in January 2009 as a merger of the Yemeni and Saudi branches of Al-Qaeda and Saudi nationals regularly cross the border illegally to join the ranks of the fighters.
Its militants took advantage of a decline in central government control during a 2011 uprising that forced veteran president Ali Abdullah Saleh from power to seize large swathes of territory across the south.
They were driven back in June 2012 and have been increasingly weakened mainly due to US drone attacks. But they remain active in the south and east of Yemen and regularly carry out hit-and-run attacks on security forces.
Saudis cleared of Al-Qaeda plot in Yemen
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This month’s unidentified threat that led to the closure of the United States Embassy and several US drone strikes around Yemen has once again shone an international spotlight on the country.
Yemen is more than terrorism and bombs, and many Yemenis are eager to ensure that this does not become the dominant narrative around the world.
Atiaf Al-Wazir, a prominent Yemeni activist, voices the frustration of many Yemenis. In a piece for Your Middle East, she talks of a “country with a long history that was once hailed as Arabia Felix, land of generosity, wisdom, coffee, the first sky scrapers, the land with many queens and great architecture,” now overshadowed by “the hysteria of the decade: terrorism.”
If international observers look closer, they will find a country that has the potential to be far removed from a hotbed of fundamentalism. They will find a country undergoing an interesting political transition, one that is hugely important for the region.
Yemen after all is an Arab Spring country. And the former head of state is alive, and not in exile or in prison. It is a country where different political factions choose by and large, to settle their disputes without resorting to bloodshed.
People have been quick to forget, but in Yemen’s yearlong uprising against former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, very few members of the opposition picked up guns in their attempt to overthrow the government, and the sit-ins across the country were packed with peaceful demonstrators, cultural events and educational talks. When 52 protesters were killed on March 18, 2011, Yemen’s oft-maligned tribes were expected to ditch the peaceful nature of the revolution and avenge the deaths of some of their fellow tribesmen. By and large, however, they defied the tribal norms that demanded revenge for bloodshed and left their guns behind.
The youth movement has also continued its attempts to achieve political change through peaceful means. Anti-drone activism and hunger strikes to campaign for the release of political prisoners, or the continued dominance of the old elite, have defied stereotypes and eschewed violence – something, as I am trying to make clear, that is not strange in this country.
Two weeks ago I attended a gathering of tribesmen in remote Al-Ahjar, south of Sanaa. One speaker discussed democracy, and how that was the best path for change and a better life for all in Yemen. All of those present applauded vociferously. These are not people who need to be convinced of the need for democracy; they welcome it with open arms.
Not all of our challenges in Yemen have to do with Al-Qaeda and terrorism either. Demographically, Yemen has one of the highest birth rates in the world, and the United Nations predicts that its population will jump from its current 24 million to 61 million by 2050. At the same time, resources such as water and oil are expected to come under heavy pressure, and in the case of oil, it possibly will run out. These are the challenges that will directly affect our neighbors and the world. These are the challenges that we may be able to resolve together provided due attention is given to them.
Terror should not be the international headline when it comes to Yemen. This country is far more than that and it is a shame that many do not know.
• This article was written for the Common Ground News Service.
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