Sana'a: Two Yemenis were sentenced yesterday to five and three years in prison after being convicted of abusing national unity and calling for separation.

Fadi Ba Oum was sentenced to five years and Hussain Al Akel was sentenced to three years by the State Security Court in two sessions.

Both defendants refused to ask for an appeal when the judges asked them after pronouncing their verdicts.

"It's a political verdict, it will be a medal on my chest," Fadi Ba Oum said, when Judge Mohsin Alwan asked him if he would appeal.

Fadi, a son of the ill prominent leader, Hassan Ba Oum, was arrested on April 27, 2009, on charges of inciting people to take up armed struggle to separate the south of Yemen from the north.

Second session

Defendant Hassan Al Akel said: "I refuse the verdict and the court and I hold you [the judge] responsible," when Judge Redwan Al Namer asked him if he would appeal.

The two sessions were held in different rooms in the same courthouse at the same time.

Al Akel, a university professor, who was arrested from Aden University on June 8, 2009, was accused of spreading false information with the aim of harming national unity and calling for separation.

Fadi Ba Oum was accused of inciting people to carry out acts of sabotage and discriminate against northerners.

At the end of Ba Oum's trial, Judge Muhsen Alwan said, "I swear by Allah Almighty, that will be merciful to none accused of harming [the] national unity."

The Judge Alwan also ordered soldiers to remove socialist Member of Parliament Mohammad Al Kubati who attended the session along with a number politicians and human rights activists, after he repeatedly said the verdict was political.

Earlier in the week, a former diplomat was sentenced to five years in prison after being convicted of calling for the separation of southern Yemen from the north.

The State Security Court, presided over by Judge Muhsen Alwan, handed down the sentence of five years in prison to Kasem Askar Jubran, who previously served as ambassador of Yemen to Mauritania.

Askar refused to ask for an appeal saying, "There is no justice, and if there is any, I would not have been here behind bars."

Askar, from the south, was arrested in April 16, 2009, on charges of harming national unity, calling for separation and inciting people to start an armed rebellion against the government. He was a military officer and served as an ambassador to Mauritania from 2001 to 2006.

Last week, the same court handed down a sentence of 10 years to former Parliamentarian Ahmad Bamualem on similar charges.