US embassy cable - 04SANAA2753

S E C R E T SANAA 002753 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/27/2014 
TAGS: PTER, PREL, YM, COUNTER TERRORISM 
SUBJECT: DEPUTY FOREIGN MINISTER NOMAN ON RAMADAN RELEASES 
 
 
Classified By: DCM Nabeel Khoury for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). 
 
1. (S/NF) Pol/Econ chief discussed pending Ramadan prisoner 
releases with Deputy Foreign Minister Mustafa Noman on 
October 27.  Thanking the ROYG for providing the USG a list 
of potential Ramadan releases in advance, Pol/Econ Chief 
urged Noman to continue in this cooperative vein by taking 
seriously USG objections to the release of 30 of the list of 
138 pending further investigations into their al-Qaida 
connections.  She noted that Hadi Dulqum and Jaber al-Banna 
were of special concern to the USG, and that their unilateral 
release would cast a shadow on our partnership in the GWOT. 
 
2. (S/NF) Noman acknowledged the seriousness of the issue. 
The Dulqum case is particularly sensitive, said the DFM, "I 
don't see how we could ever try Dulqum."   Pol/Econ Chief 
responded that al-Banna has been indicted in U.S. Federal 
Court for providing material support to al-Qaida, and Dulqum 
is a known and dangerous AQ supporter.  We are asking that 
the ROYG not release them in the coming days and weeks and 
allow us to find a way to deal with their cases without any 
time constraints. 
 
3. (S) Referring to upcoming TIFA talks, Noman lamented, 
"it's too bad we cannot keep security issues separate from 
economic development efforts."  Pol/Econ chief agreed, 
confirming that his assessment was correct -- should the ROYG 
decide to proceed with plans to put known al-Qaida supporters 
back on the street, it would indeed have a detrimental 
impact, not just on security cooperation but possibly on our 
bilateral efforts across the board. 
KRAJESKI