A suspect on trial for a bomb attack on the British embassy in Sanaa said in court on Sunday that he worked for Yemeni intelligence, according to reports.
"I have been an employee of the political police for a year and a half," said Sallam Salem Abu Jahel before a special terrorism court.
"I received a monthly salary of 13,500 riyals ($80), but I had no work to do," said the 31-year-old, who is standing trial with three other Yemenis for the October 13 bombing, the weekly Yemen Times quoted him as saying.
The embassy attack, in which TNT was tossed over the compound's wall, damaged the embassy but left no one injured. It came a day after a bomb attack on the USS Cole warship in the southern port of Aden, leaving 17 US sailors dead.
The third suspect in court, Abu Bakr Said Ahmad Jaiul, said on June 18 that he carried out the Sanaa bomb attack together with Mosharaf to avenge Israeli attacks on the Palestinians.
One of the detainees, Fares Saleh Taher, is being held in Aden in connection with another case.
The Sanaa court, which adjourned the trial until Monday, demanded last week that Taher be transferred.
Another suspect, Ahmad Massud Ali Mosharaf, said Saturday he had informed in December Yemen's former interior minister of further bomb plans in Aden, two days before attacks were carried out on Aden's Anglican church and Continental Hotel, according to the weekly.
Mosharaf said he had "telephoned General Hussein Mohammed Arab to tell him that the explosions would happen in Aden during New Year's celebrations."
On New Year's Day, a bomb partially destroyed an outside wall of Aden's Anglican church, while a shell fired at the town's Continental Hotel missed its target and fell into the sea
Isam Al Ghurbani of the British Embassy attended the trial but he said he was not authorized by the embassy to present its views of demands, the weekly added.
The embassy worker said that he was simply attending to listen to the trial.
He said that the embassy was not officially asked to attend the sessions of the trial, even though the judge said that the prosecution wrote to the Yemeni Ministry of Foreign Affairs to inform the British Embassy about the event.
He further said that the embassy had the right to present its views and demands in the court or ask for compensation for the damage the explosion caused to it – Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
