US embassy cable - 04SANAA2946

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. 
 
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28 plus 2 
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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). 
 
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Jaber al-Banna 
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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." 
 
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Hadi Dulqum 
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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