Yemeni Cleric’s Family Offers Deal

By Ahmad Shihadah
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

SA’NA, Yemen – The father of Anwar al-Awlaki, a Yemeni religious scholar who has reportedly been added to a US hit list, says his son will halt his anti-US messages if Washington removes him from the list.

Al-Awlaki, accused by the US of having links to al-Qaeda’s Yemeni offshoot, was added to the CIA’s list of targets to be killed or captured for directly plotting against the US, a US intelligence official said last week

U.S. officials said on Tuesday that the administration of President Barack Obama had authorized operations to capture or kill U.S.-born  al-Awlaki – a leading figure linked to al Qaeda’s Yemen-based regional wing which claimed responsibility for a failed bombing of a U.S.-bound plane in December.

But Yemeni authorities said on Saturday that they had not received any evidence from the US to support allegations that the US-born al-Awlaki is recruiting for an al-Qaeda offshoot in Yemen. “Anwar al-Awlaki has always been looked at as a preacher rather than a terrorist and shouldn’t be considered as a terrorist unless the Americans have evidence that he has been involved in terrorism,” Abu Bakr al-Qirbi, the Yemeni foreign minister, said.

Awlaki’s tribe has denounced U.S. plans to target him, vowing it “will not stand by idly and watch.”

Heavily armed tribes in Yemen, the poorest Arab country, often try to protect their kin by seeking to gain their release or favorable treatment. At times, they have kidnapped foreign tourists to pressure the government.

Yemen is beset by serious political and administrative problems. In addition to the conflict with the regional branch of al-Qaeda, Yemen’s weak central government has struggled to contain separatists in the south and Houthi fighters in the north.

The government and the Houthis reached a ceasefire agreement in February. But the separatist problems in the south show no sign of a resolution.

For more information, please see;

Al-Jazeera – Yemen’s Awlaki Family Offers Deal – 12 April 2010

Washington Post – Yemen Says Seeks Cleric, Yet To Get U.S. Intelligence – 12 April 2010

Saba Net – Al-Awlaki is Required To Surrender To The Yemeni Authorities; Top Yemen Official – 12 April 2010

Author: Impunity Watch Archive