Killing of British tourists in Yemen

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is orphaned as few or no other articles link to it.
Please help introduce links in articles on related topics. (October 2006)

On May 5, 1999, Islamic militants were sentenced to death for kidnapping and killing British tourists in Yemen in December 1998.

During the December shoot-out at a mountain hideaway, the terrorists used tourists as human shields during a botched army rescue.

Three Britons and an Australian died during the attempt to free their tour group of 16 westerners from the Islamic Army of Aden. Abu Hassan, its leader, and two accomplices, Abudullah Saleh al-Junaidy and Saleh Abu Huraira, were convicted of kidnapping and murder.

A fourth gang member, Ahmed Mohammed Atif, was sentenced to 20 years. His brother, Saad, was found not guilty.

Laurence Whitehouse, 54, whose wife Margaret, 52, was shot in the head while trying to help another hostage, said she would not have wanted their execution.

"Margaret and I were both opposed to death penalties. We think it is immoral. No one has the right to take anyone else's lives. But I do hope that appropriate justice is given to the people involved in taking us hostage and killing four innocent tourists."

A gun barrel to his neck prevented the sixth form lecturer, from Hook, Hampshire, from cradling his wife as she lay bleeding in the dirt.

Mr Whitehouse said:

"A sentence of 20 years does seem much more appropriate than the death sentence. The Yemeni authorities have made their decision and I think it is purely up to their legal system and not my responsibility.

I lost a wife that I had been happily married to for 30 years. There is no amount of punishment of other people that can recompense me for my sad loss."

Another survivor, Susan Mattocks, 43, a teacher of religion from Ramsgate, Kent, also opposed execution.

"Provided there has been a fair trial, and all the evidence has been aired openly, I think justice should be done, but in terms of prison sentences, not the death penalty."

Abu Hassan admits kidnapping but denies killing the hostages, some of whom said government troops fired indiscriminately during the shoot out.

Handcuffed and flanked by soldiers, Hassan said his terror group would respond to the 'unjust and unfair' sentences within 20 days.

Abu Hamza, the London-based cleric accused of sending Britons to train with the Islamic Army of Aden, said the sentences would provoke retaliation.

"I believe it will ignite and spark something which the Yemen government can't afford. The sentence will make the Islamic Army of Aden pull together and restructure. The sentence is totally unjust. Islamic law says that no Muslim should be killed for the blood of a non-Muslim."

Told that the victims' relatives were urging clemency he said: 'It's good of them to think that way.' Mr Hamza is fighting extradition to Yemen for allegedly masterminding terror.

In addition to Mrs Whitehouse, a primary school teacher, the hostages killed in the shoot-out were Ruth Williamson, 34, an NHS training consultant from Edinburgh, Peter Rowe, 60, a maths lecturer from Durham, and Andrew Thirsk, 35, who had emigrated from Surrey to Sydney.

Yemen officials say their tour group was kidnapped to bargain for the release of British Muslims who were arrested while allegedly trying to bomb westerners in Aden.

Rashad Yaqoob, a lawyer representing the men's families, said the sentences showed 'that the Yemeni government wants to seem to be hard on terrorists. It has ominous implications for the Britons, because it shows a certain mentality, a certain state of mind.' Mr Yaqoob expected the Britons' trial to finish in three to four weeks.