Sana'a, Yemen - Yemen's former ambassador to Mauritania
appeared before a state security court in Sana'a Tuesday charged with
inciting an armed disobedience by allegedly calling for the south of
Yemen to secede from the north.
Qassim Askar Jubran, who served as Yemen's ambassador to
Mauritania from 2002 to 2006, was charged with 'seeking to
destabilise the country, harm national unity and spread the culture
of hatred.'
Prosecutors told the court that Jubran was among southern
opposition leaders who called for protests in southern cities that
led to clashes between protesters and security forces over the past
few weeks.
The diplomat was arrested on April 17 in the southern port city of
Aden.
Jubran refused to offer a plea to the charges against him, saying
the trial was 'political.'
He read out a statement from behind bars saying he was supporting
a 'peaceful struggle by the people of the south that is being faced
by violence, oppression and tyrannical military force.'
'My trial is political and this court is an emergency court,' he
said.
The trial was adjourned until June 9.
Violent protests have rocked several cities in southern Yemen the
last few weeks, leaving dozens of dead and wounded among both the
protesters and security force members.
The protests were organised by southern secessionist groups that
want the south to secede from the north claiming that the central
government exercises discriminatory policies against southerners.
North and South Yemen were united in 1990. In 1994, southern
leaders announced the secession of the south and battled northern
forces led by President Saleh for 10 weeks in a civil war that ended
in their defeat.
The violence highlights the increasing discontent by the
southerners and tensions between southern and northern Yemen, 15
years after the civil war.
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