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YEMEN (News Agencies)-The trial in Yemen of a Sudanese man charged with raping, and murdering 16 women, took a strange turn on Saturday, when he withdrew his confession to 14 of the killings, and one of his alleged victims turned up in court. The accused, Sana'a University mortuary worker, Muhammad Adam Omar, said at a hearing that he had only killed two female students, one Iraqi and one Yemeni. His statement provoked uproar at the trial, which has shocked Yemen and sparked protests among Sana'a University students, who have demanded his execution. The accused last week caused public outrage when he confessed to the murders of 16 women in Yemen, a further 11 in Sudan, and others in Kuwait, Chad, and the Central African Republic. But in court on Saturday, he told the judge: "I only killed two students: Hosn Attiya, a Yemeni, and Zainab Saud, an Iraqi." In the courtroom, a relative of the murdered Iraqi student slapped a Sudanese diplomat, and accused the prosecution of burying the truth; the man was immediately arrested. A lawyer representing the family of the dead Yemeni student walked out of the courtroom in disgust. Reports said Omar retracted his earlier confession when one of the women whose murder he had claimed turned up in court. Last week he showed a photograph of Nada Yassin, who had been mistakenly listed by police as missing since 1998. He said he had killed her, describing the murder in detail. But, Nada Yassin, who was in court, wearing a black cloak with only her eyes showing through her veil, said to the judge that she wanted to set the record straight, because the press had reported her death. Judge Yahya al-Aslami requested her to remove her veil and asked her sister, Aisha, who was also in the court, to confirm her identity. As soon as she uncovered her face, her sister cried and embraced her. "This is my sister," said Aisha Yassin to the judge. Yassin's family lives in the United Arab Emirates and had traveled to Yemen, after reading press reports about her death. The Associated Press said two other women had contacted the news agency on Saturday, saying they were university medical students who had been reported murdered by Omar. Newspapers printed a list of the 16 alleged victims based on Omar's own confessions. He told the judge: "I killed only two women. They accused me of killing 16 women and I said yes. I don't know why I said I killed the others." The prosecution said it had proof he had been involved in more than two murders. According to forensic reports, body parts belonging to five people were found at the Sana'a University medical school morgue. Before bringing the session to a close, the judge decided to reopen all investigations into the case. The murder trial resumes on 5 June. |
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