Britain inquires about fairness of its citizens trial in Yemen
Yemen-UK, Politics, 8/11/1999

A spokesman for the British Foreign Ministry said in London on Tuesday that British Prime Minister Tony Blair sent a message to Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh that centered on finding out whether the British convicts who were sentenced to imprisonment after being found guilty of planning acts of destruction in Yemen had underwent fair trials.

The spokesman added that Blair also called for making investigations into the claims made by the convicts that they were tortured in order to elicit confessions.

In London, a spokesman for the Yemeni embassy in the British capital said that the trial of the convicts was held in just and open atmospheres, during which all internationally-recognized legal measures were adopted, a matter which refutes claims that those convicts were tortured.

Meanwhile, Abu Hamzeh al-Masri, an extremist Islamists who resides in London and father for one of the 8 British citizens who were sentenced in Yemen on Monday, said the sentence was not surprising for him.

The Yemeni government is trying to convince Britain to hand over al-Masri for trial under charges of kidnapping Western tourists in December 1998, including four who were killed during rescue attempt.

Previous Stories:
  British prisoners in Yemen   (8/10/1999)
  Yemen: Today issuing the final judgment in the case of major terrorism   (8/9/1999)
  Yemen announces arrest of Belgian tourists' kidnapper   (8/6/1999)

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