Yemen court verdict in Iran espionage case postponed again

Mar 16, 2009, 15:50 GMT

Sana'a, Yemen - A Yemeni state security court on Monday postponed for the second time the pronouncement of its verdict in the case of three Yemenis charged with spying for Iran.

The court was due to deliver its ruling during a session Monday, but court officials told reporters the verdict session was rescheduled one more week.

The verdict was initially scheduled for March 9, but the court's presiding judge Muhssien Alwan adjourned the pronouncement for one week, without giving any reason for the delay.

Three defendants, aged between 31 and 57 years old, faced charges of 'illegal contact with a foreign state, and the transmission of military information to it.'

Prosecutors have told the court that the defendants had provided the Iranian embassy in Sana'a last year with information about Yemen's coastguard forces in the southern port city of Aden.

Abdul-Kareem Lalji, 33, Hani Muhammed Deen, 31, and Iskandar Abdullah Yusuf, 57, also provided Iran with details of foreign navy ships that call at the port, they said.

According to the charge sheet, the defendants handed over to the embassy 'documents and pictures related to defence secrets and the country's political, security, and economic situation.'

Since the trial that opened on October 11 included 10 court hearings.