Yemeni religious scholars help youth shun extremism

A Yemeni committee made up of chief religious scholars is holding dialogue with the young people who returned from Afghanistan carrying extremist ideas, the government-run 26 September weekly quoted a senior official as saying.

The committee comprises 10 scholars including the Vice Chai-rman of Supreme Judicial Council, Mohammed Ismail Al Hajee.

The scholars will hold seminars and deliver lectures to the extremists with the objective of helping them shunning extremism and false ideas they believe in.

The scholars will teach them and enlighten them about Islam, its sublime doctrines and the high values of this religion, the official said.

President Ali Abdullah Saleh ordered the formation of the committee last week. To this end, a U.S. team is scheduled to arrive here next week to continue investigations over the USS Cole attack that took place on October 12, 2000, at the Aden harbour.

Two suicide bombers detonated a boat loaded with explosives, killing 19 U.S. sailors. The talks with the team will focus on closing the file of the Cole and referring it to the court, a security official said.

The file of the USS destroyer, Cole, was supposed to have been referred to the court much earlier, but it was postponed upon a request from our friends, the Americans, the official added.

But now there is no convincing justification to adjourn the file any more, it must be referred to the court.

Meanwhile, a four-member delegation from the Amnesty International (AI) is currently in Yemen to know the conditions of those detained after the Cole attack and September 11 incidents.

"We are here to meet with the relatives of the detainees, to listen to them, and study their issues, and we addressed this issue with the authorities here in the last visit on February and we're going to talk again with the authorities on this issue," Al Amri Sharoof, a member of the AI told Gulf News.

An unknown group, calling itself the Al Qaida sympathisers, demanded the release of 173 detainees after claiming responsibilities for a series of bombings in Sanaa over the last few months. The government sources say there are only 85 detainees.