ansari
STRANGER...
Young UK men 'tortured' while held in Yemen
IAN COBAIN
January 12, 2010
LONDON: A group of British Muslims who were detained and allegedly tortured last month while travelling in Yemen say their interrogators demanded detailed information about mosques in London and their associates in Britain.
The three young men and a teenage boy were held for almost five weeks after being dragged off a bus outside the capital, Sana'a, where they had enrolled in an Arabic language institute a few days earlier.
They say that while being held at a prison run by one of the Yemeni Government's intelligence agencies they were beaten, deprived of sleep and forced to watch others being tortured. They allege that they were then ordered to write a list of mosques they attended in London, told to describe those mosques and some of the people who pray there, and instructed to hand over the names and telephone numbers of some of their associates in Britain.
They were released without charge. The men are angry that the British Foreign Office has made no complaint about their alleged mistreatment to Yemeni authorities, although they reported it to Scotland Yard and Foreign Office officials.
They are also angry that the Foreign Office denies any of them had visible injuries when they were visited by a British consular official shortly before their release.
One of the men, Shajed Askor - who described that official denial as ''a downright lie'' - had visible injuries on his forehead, left cheek and arms when interviewed by The Guardian nine days after his release. He and the teenage boy say their doctors have referred them for counselling.
A Foreign Office spokesman said: ''On their return to the UK, families of three individuals have raised with us concerns over their treatment in Yemen. ''We have made clear we take such issues very seriously and would be willing to meet with the families to hear the detail of those concerns so we can also take these up with the Yemeni authorities.
''The family of the fourth individual has not at this stage raised concerns with us over their treatment.''
Asked about the allegation that Yemeni interrogators questioned the men about mosques and associates in London, the spokesman said: ''The four British nationals were arrested by the Yemeni authorities for travelling to an area which they did not have permission to enter. We are not in a position to comment on the questions the Yemeni authorities may or may not have asked them.''
The men and their families say they cannot understand why they would be asked questions about mosques in London, unless the Yemeni authorities intended to pass their answers to British intelligence officials.
The four were detained several weeks before Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a Nigerian enrolled at a different language school in Sana'a, made his attempt to detonate a bomb aboard Northwest Airlines Flight 253 on Christmas Day.
Their allegations appear to shed light on the human rights abuses being perpetrated by Yemen's main intelligence agency, the al-Amn As-Siyasiia, or Political Security Organisation, at a time when the US and British governments are increasing funding for the country's security apparatus.
The British students say that at the police station they and three French passengers were handcuffed, forced to kneel for several hours and taken away to be questioned one at a time. They were clearly regarded as suspected al-Qaeda supporters.
''They were asking me where bin Laden's hideouts were,'' said Alam Mottakin, 19, a student. ''They kept asking the same question: … 'Which group are you working with?'''
At one point, they said, they were forced to sit in a room while about 40 people were severely beaten with sticks and iron bars, and doused with water.
When asked repeatedly why no complaint had been made to Yemen about the mistreatment, the Foreign Office eventually denied that Mr Askor's injuries had been visible to the consular official, but asked initially that that denial not be attributed on the record to the Foreign Office.
Guardian News & Media
http://www.smh.com.au/world/young-uk-men-tortured-while-held-in-yemen-20100111-m2pu.html
IAN COBAIN
January 12, 2010
LONDON: A group of British Muslims who were detained and allegedly tortured last month while travelling in Yemen say their interrogators demanded detailed information about mosques in London and their associates in Britain.
The three young men and a teenage boy were held for almost five weeks after being dragged off a bus outside the capital, Sana'a, where they had enrolled in an Arabic language institute a few days earlier.
They say that while being held at a prison run by one of the Yemeni Government's intelligence agencies they were beaten, deprived of sleep and forced to watch others being tortured. They allege that they were then ordered to write a list of mosques they attended in London, told to describe those mosques and some of the people who pray there, and instructed to hand over the names and telephone numbers of some of their associates in Britain.
They were released without charge. The men are angry that the British Foreign Office has made no complaint about their alleged mistreatment to Yemeni authorities, although they reported it to Scotland Yard and Foreign Office officials.
They are also angry that the Foreign Office denies any of them had visible injuries when they were visited by a British consular official shortly before their release.
One of the men, Shajed Askor - who described that official denial as ''a downright lie'' - had visible injuries on his forehead, left cheek and arms when interviewed by The Guardian nine days after his release. He and the teenage boy say their doctors have referred them for counselling.
A Foreign Office spokesman said: ''On their return to the UK, families of three individuals have raised with us concerns over their treatment in Yemen. ''We have made clear we take such issues very seriously and would be willing to meet with the families to hear the detail of those concerns so we can also take these up with the Yemeni authorities.
''The family of the fourth individual has not at this stage raised concerns with us over their treatment.''
Asked about the allegation that Yemeni interrogators questioned the men about mosques and associates in London, the spokesman said: ''The four British nationals were arrested by the Yemeni authorities for travelling to an area which they did not have permission to enter. We are not in a position to comment on the questions the Yemeni authorities may or may not have asked them.''
The men and their families say they cannot understand why they would be asked questions about mosques in London, unless the Yemeni authorities intended to pass their answers to British intelligence officials.
The four were detained several weeks before Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a Nigerian enrolled at a different language school in Sana'a, made his attempt to detonate a bomb aboard Northwest Airlines Flight 253 on Christmas Day.
Their allegations appear to shed light on the human rights abuses being perpetrated by Yemen's main intelligence agency, the al-Amn As-Siyasiia, or Political Security Organisation, at a time when the US and British governments are increasing funding for the country's security apparatus.
The British students say that at the police station they and three French passengers were handcuffed, forced to kneel for several hours and taken away to be questioned one at a time. They were clearly regarded as suspected al-Qaeda supporters.
''They were asking me where bin Laden's hideouts were,'' said Alam Mottakin, 19, a student. ''They kept asking the same question: … 'Which group are you working with?'''
At one point, they said, they were forced to sit in a room while about 40 people were severely beaten with sticks and iron bars, and doused with water.
When asked repeatedly why no complaint had been made to Yemen about the mistreatment, the Foreign Office eventually denied that Mr Askor's injuries had been visible to the consular official, but asked initially that that denial not be attributed on the record to the Foreign Office.
Guardian News & Media
http://www.smh.com.au/world/young-uk-men-tortured-while-held-in-yemen-20100111-m2pu.html
..alhumdulillah United arab emirates is a safe place 
..now its like anyother western country but still safe..and also saudia arabia, safe place