Al-Mihdar asks pardoning against halting activities

Abu Baker al-Mihdar, known as Abu Hassan, who is sentenced to death in Yemen on Monday extended an appeal to Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh asking for a pardoning for him and other members in his organization against halting their activities.

He said before the court of appeals in Zinjibar, "The Aden Islamic Army - Abeen will halt all its activities, unconditionally against releasing all of its members and issuing a collective pardon for our colleagues as well as considering our Muslim Brothers in Yemen who fled from the oppression of the rulers of Algeria, Egypt and Libya as political asylum seekers."

The Islamic Army for Aden -Abeen, which includes old warriors who participated in the war of Afghanistan, was considered at the end of December 1998 responsible for kidnapping 16 western tourists and killing four of them during an attack launched by the government forces to release the hostages.