YEMEN'S GREAT ESCAPE: 23 AL-QA'IDA DETAINEES ARE AT LARGE

S E C R E T SANAA 000272

STATE/NEA FOR A/S WELCH
NSC FOR F. TOWNSEND

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/04/2015
TAGS: PREL PTER YM
SUBJECT: YEMEN'S GREAT ESCAPE: 23 AL-QA'IDA DETAINEES ARE AT LARGE

Classified By: CLASSIFIED BY CDA NABEEL KHOURY FOR REASONS 1.4 (b) and (d)

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Summary
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1. (S) Summary. On February 3, 23 al-Qa'ida supporters
escaped from a maximum security prison in Sanaa. Among the
escapees were 13 individuals convicted of participating in
the 2000 USS Cole and the 2002 M/V Limburg attacks, including
one of the Cole attack ringleaders, Jamal Badawi. (Names and
backgrounds of other escapees reported in separate channels.)
ROYG officials confirmed to emboffs that the prisoners
escaped by digging an underground tunnel from the prison to a
nearby mosque. All 23 detainees remain at-large. This is
the second prison break in a week, following the un-related
escape of two members of an indigenous anti-government group
(al-Houthi) from a separate Sanaa prison facility on January

27. These two individuals are still at-large as well.
Embassy has restricted internal travel and issued a warden
message to that effect, pending further developments.


2. (S) In the absence of MOI Alimi, CDA requested and
received a call from President Saleh who assured CDA that the
escape is the ROYG's highest priority and that he is
confident of an imminent arrest. Saleh said, however, that
he was most concerned about the weakness of his "services" -
a clear reference to the Political Security Organization,
which had hitherto been in charge of all terrorism related
issues and from whose high-security facility the 23 escaped.
(Comment: CDA will report septel on details of his
conversation with Saleh. End Comment). End Summary.

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Al-Qa'ida Supporters Escape
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3. (S) On February 3, "26 September" newspaper, an official
weekly published by the armed forces, reported that 23
al-Qa'ida supporters escaped from a Political Security
Organization (PSO) prison in Sanaa by digging an underground
tunnel to a nearby mosque. Among the escapees were 13
individuals convicted of various charges related to the 2000
attack on the USS Cole in Aden Harbor and the 2002 attack on
the French oil tanker M/V Limburg, including Jamal
al-Badawai. Badawai was convicted in 2004 for his role in
the Cole attack and originally received the death penalty,
which was later commuted to a 15 year sentence.


4. (S) This is not the first time Badawai has escaped from
prison. In 2003, he and nine other Cole suspects escaped
from an Aden prison by digging a hole from the prison
bathroom. Badawi and some of the others were subsequently
recaptured and tried. Authorities confirmed that Fawaz
al-Rabi'i, who received a death sentence for his
participation in the Limburg attack, was among the February 3
escapees.

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Comment
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5. (S) By all accounts, the ROYG has just lost some of its
highest value al-Qa'ida prisoners -- individuals whose
operational ability and lethality has been proven by past
attacks against western and Yemeni targets. The fact that
the religious and ideological views of these men probably
became even more extreme in prison is not lost on ROYG
officials, who have mobilized every security organ in the
country to pursue them. In that connection, it is
significant that "26 September," a publication tightly
controlled by a confidant of President Saleh, broke the
story. Official media sources are generally the last to
report such incidents, sometimes waiting several days to
acknowledge negative stories run by international or
independent media outlets. The fact that a government media
outlet reported the incident so swiftly is likely an
indication that the Government realizes the gravity of this
event and the importance of controlling the story.


6. (S) This incident represents a set-back for all the
successes the ROYG has had in recent years vis a vis
al-Qa'ida. Unless the majority of the 23 are rounded up in
the near future, the threat level for the U.S. Mission in
Sanaa will have taken a serious turn for the worse. End
Comment.


Khoury

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