Yemen court jails ex-ambassador over support to secessionists

Mar 28, 2010, 12:44 GMT

Sana'a, Yemen - A Yemeni state security court on Sunday convicted a former ambassador to Mauritania to five years in jail for his support to secessionist groups in the south of the Arab country.

Presiding Judge Muhssien Alwan said the defendant, Qassim Askar Jubran, was found guilty of 'inciting an armed disobedience and committing crimes aimed at harming national unity.'

Jubran, who appeared behind bars at the courtroom for the verdict session, said he would not appeal against the ruling saying: 'basically, there is no justice.'

The trial began in June 2009 after Jubran was arrested in the southern port city of Aden in a security sweep against southern politicians seen as allies to the Southern Movement, which calls for the south of Yemen to secede from the north.

Jubran, who served as Yemen's ambassador to Mauritania from 2002 to 2006, was charged with 'seeking to destabilize 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 leading to clashes between protesters and security forces last year.

Violent protests have rocked several cities in southern Yemen the last few months, leaving dozens of dead and wounded among both the protesters and security force members.

The protests were organized by southern secessionist groups 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 16 years after the civil war.