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Yemen Hijacker Claims To Be Adventurist
additional reporting from Mohammed Abdel Attai
SANAA, Yemen, Jan 31 (IslamOnline) - A Yemeni man accused of hijacking a plane carrying 91 passengers, including the U.S. ambassador to Yemen, told a Yemeni court Wednesday that he is "an adventurer" and not a terrorist, and demanded a reduced sentence.
"The most important thing is that no injustice is brought against me,'' said Jaber Yehia Ali Sattar, who faces the death penalty if convicted. A verdict will be announced Saturday.
"I had not sought to harm the plane's passengers ... and had no political motives," he said.
Sattar, claiming he was only looking for fame, said the January 23rd hijacking was a desperate act of a man "unemployed since being expelled from Saudi Arabia" where he had lived for many years.
Conducting his own defense in the unexplained absence of his lawyer Mohammad al-Saqqaf, Sattar did not say why he had been expelled from Saudi Arabia "six days before the hijacking" of the Yemenia plane to Djibouti.
"I am not a terrorist," Sattar told the court. "I am after fame. That's all. I didn't hijack the plane, I merely told the pilot to 'please' go to Baghdad. The word 'please' proves that I am not a terrorist."
Sattar hijacked the Yemenia Boeing 727 just after it took off from Sanaa on a domestic flight to the southern city of Taiz. He is charged with kidnapping, endangering the safety of passengers, forging official documents and carrying unlicensed weapons.
United States FBI agents in Yemen to help investigate the October 12th bombing of the USS Cole in which 17 sailors were killed, attended Wednesday's open session for the first time.
U.S. Ambassador to Yemen, Barbara Bodine, other embassy staff and Abdulwahab Al Hajjri, Yemen's ambassador to Washington, were among the passengers aboard the Yemenia flight. U.S. officials have said it appears the hijacker was unaware the diplomats were aboard.
Satter said he bought the gun he used in their operation from an open market in Yemen for less than $50.
On why he open fire against one of the crewmembers, Satter said the airplane official attacked him with a fire extinguisher bottle. "He irritated me and wanted to fool me," Satter said.
News agencies reported that, speaking on condition of anonymity, sources at the prosecutor's office said Sattar made conflicting statements during interrogations, variously claiming he hijacked the plane to show sympathy for the Iraqi people, that he wanted ransom, and that he was trying to protest a border demarcation accord with Saudi Arabia.
In 1998, Yemen stiffened the penalties for kidnapping. Those found guilty can face the death penalty, particularly if hostages are hurt or killed.
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