UPDATE ON YEMEN PRISONER RELEASES

S E C R E T SANAA 002946

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/24/2014
TAGS: PREL PTER PINR KJUS YM COUNTER TERRORISM
SUBJECT: UPDATE ON YEMEN PRISONER RELEASES

REF: SANAA 2712 AND PREVIOUS

Classified By: DCM Nabeel Khoury for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (S) Summary. Post believes that the 28 plus 2 Ramadan
detainees who's release we objected to have been put on an
"extended hold" pending transfer from PSO custody to that of
the Attorney General (AG). As of November 24, however, we
have received no confirmation from the AG that the transfers
have taken place. The AG has officially requested the
transfer of Jaber al-Banna and he believes it will happen
soon. Although the AG is not optimistic that the
investigation of al-Banna will result in his prosecution, it
does mean al-Banna will remain in custody for weeks or months
while an FBI team is allowed to join the investigation. Hadi
Dulqum continues to be detained by the ROYG but no agreement
has been reached on how to proceed in his case. End Summary.

--------------
28 plus 2
--------------


2. (S) Post has been told by MOI, NSB, and a contact close
to President Saleh that a decision has been made to extended
the deadline on the release of the 28 security detainees of
concern to us, plus Jaber al-Banna and Hadi Dulqum.
President Saleh has reportedly instructed that their release
continue to be delayed pending further cooperation between
the USG and the Yemeni Attorney General's office (OAG).

--------------
Jaber al-Banna
--------------


3. (S) In a November 7 meeting with DCM and LEGATT, Deputy
Attorney General Sharraf and Chief Prosecutor al-Alq declined
an FBI invitation to travel to the U.S. to review al-Banna's
case files, but invited FBI case agents to Sanaa to work
directly with the Office of the Attorney General on Abdullah
al-Rimi, a case the FBI has been waiting on for months, and
al-Banna, pending confirmation of the transfer of the
detainees from PSO to OAG. The AG hinted that perhaps a deal
could be arranged to hand over al-Banna if, during
interrogation, he indicated that he preferred to go to the
United States. AG was quick to point out, however, that a
deal of this sort would not be within his department but
needed to be worked out with "others."

--------------
Hadi Dulqum
--------------


4. (S) Despite gaining incremental extensions on the
detention of Hadi Dulqum, there is, as of yet, no agreement
with the ROYG on a long-term solution to his case. The ROYG
still holds that the shared information on Dulqum is not
sufficient to try him for any crime, and the PSO continues to
insist it has no information to add.
KRAJESKI