Almotamar.net - The Specialised First Instance Criminal Court in Yemen has on Tuesday convicted three persons accused of holding phone contacts for Iran and decided death sentence to the first and second defendants and acquitted the third defendant.

The verdict of the court chaired by Judge Muhsin Alwan stipulated the execution of the first defendant Abdulkarim Ali Abdulkarim Laji ,33 from Aden, owner of Al-Hadh Printing Press and the second defendant Hani Ahmed Deen Mohammed , 31 , secretary of Coast Guard Director General , Hadramout.

The court acquitted the third defendant Iskandar Abdullah Yusuf, 57, a retired from Aden because evidence was not enough.

Following the reading out of the verdict the defence lawyer Shatha Mohammed Nasser requested appealing the sentence against the first and second defendants.


The criminal prosecution had, in its first sitting on 11 October 2008, accused the defendants Abdulkarim Ali Abdulkarim and Hani Ahmed Deen Mohammed and Iskandar Abdullah Yusuf of holding phone contacts with Iran since 1997 until 2008 and illegal communication with those working for its interest. It said they have supplied the Iranians with news, information, documents and photos on defence, political and foreign situations in the country which consequently harmed the political, economic and military status of the Republic of Yemen. They had also provided information on delegations to the Coast Guard, military maneuvers and photos on them , military maps and posts , information on the American base in Qatar , the security situation in Aden seaport and on visits of the president of the republic and his movements.

The charges also included providing information on the Yemeni National security, the ships and military vessels reaching the port of Aden and about the military gunboats, disclosure of services of the Coast Guard and letters reaching Aden from Sana’a, information on the war in Saada. The defendants were supplying the information in CDs and mobile memory in addition to offering information on the parliamentary elections of 2003. The accused received large sums of money from employees in the Iranian embassy in Sana’a as well as via the national bank, Aden branch. They had also received sums in dollar from an Iranian person called Mohammed Jawad Nabawi, handed to them by an Iranian Abbas Attri, both of them are businessmen.