Yemen court freezes assets of two Saleh-era officials

Sana’a: A Yemen court on Tuesday ordered the freezing of the assets of two top security officials who served under ousted strongman Ali Abdullah Saleh for refusing to testify in the case of a deadly Sana’a suicide bombing, a judicial source said.

The source named the officials as former commander of the central security services, General Abdul Malek Al Taieb, and his deputy, General Yahya Mohammad Abdullah Saleh, a nephew of the former president.

Both men were regarded by court as “fugitives from justice” after they failed to appear, the source said, without specifying whether they were to appear as witnesses or defendants.

The Sana’a court specialising in terrorism cases has also imposed a travel ban on the pair, the source added.

Taieb was sacked on the day of the suicide attack — May 21, 2012 — which killed 86 soldiers and was claimed by Al Qaida. Yahya was dismissed in December.

On January 14, Yemen began the trial of nine Al Qaida suspects accused of involvement in the attack.

Al Qaida said the assault, in which a man dressed as a soldier detonated explosives in the middle of a battalion, was aimed at Defence Minister Mohammad Nasser Ahmad and his aides. The minister escaped unharmed.

It was the biggest assault on Yemeni troops since President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi came to power in February last year, following a year- long uprising that ousted his predecessor Saleh.

During the first court hearing, one of the defendants, 24-year-old Hesham Sharaabi, had shouted out that “this case is political and involves high-ranking officials”.

Saleh who had ruled Yemen for 33 years, had a closely-knit regime, appointing relatives to head sensitive security and military posts.

But since he took office, Hadi — who must restructure the security and military apparatus based on the UN-backed deal that brought him to power — has sacked many officers close to Saleh.