hollywoodtone.blogspot.com Yemen refuses extradition request for alleged Al-Qaeda financier
hollywoodtone.blogspot.com Yemen refuses extradition request for alleged Al-Qaeda financier
The president of Yemen Mansour Hadi has refused to extradite to the US the head of an ultraconservative political party. The president said that he will refuse to hand over any Yemeni citizens to a foreign country.
The United States claims that Abd al-Wahhab Humayqani has financed Al-Qaida. Humayqani is secretary general of the Yemeni Rashad Union, an ultraconservative Salafi party. In a statement on Yemeni state television Hadi denounced the charges against Humayqani. The US imposed sanctions on Humayqani in December while accusing him of using his position as head of a Yemen-based charity to transfer funds to Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) a group that the US has targeted as a terrorist organization. US officials also accuse Humayqani of also facilitating transfers of funds from Al-Qaeda supporters in Saudi Arabia to Yemen. Humayqani is a member of the National Dialogue Conference that is attempting to solve some of Yemen's problems. The issues being discussed can be found here. President Hadi has been a close ally of the US, especially in the fight against terrorism. He has strongly supported US drone attacks in Yemen even though they are quite unpopular and there have been many demonstrations against them. The National Dialogue Conference actually passed a motion that they should be banned. The drone attacks Hadi claims were in accordance with an agreement signed with the former president after the terrorist attacks in the US on September 11, 2001. Hadi claimed that Yemen had a role alongside the US in the attacks:
"Cooperation (with the US) in the field of combating terrorism is not a secret as we take part in the operation room in Djibouti and we have officers in Bahrain's operation room with other world countries,"Hadi also echoed US officials about the accuracy of the drone attacks: “They pinpoint the target and have zero margin of error, if you know what target you’re aiming at,” Hadi has been president since he was elected in February of 2012. He was the sole candidate. This move by Hadi may result in some tension between Yemen and the US. Hadi also pressed the US to repatriate to Yemen citizens who have been cleared for release from Guantanamo. So far this year none have been released and returned.
hollywoodtone.blogspot.com Yemen refuses extradition request for alleged Al-Qaeda financier