By IPS Correspondents
SANA'A, Aug 1 2005 (IPS)

Yemen has reacted strongly against the United States after the sentencing of a cleric to 75 years imprisonment by a U.S. court.

The sentence and a 1.25 million dollar slapped on Mohammad al-Moayyad for offering financial support to the militant Hamas group has enraged both the Yemeni government, a close ally of the United States in its war on terror, and several people’s groups.

Mohammad al-Moayyad (57) is widely respected in Yemen as a champion of the poor. His charitable societies feed thousands, and he has also built a school and a mosque.

He was arrested in Germany with his companion Mohammad Zaid after he travelled there to meet someone he was told would make a donation to his charity. But that turned out to be a ruse by an agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Al-Moayyad and his companion were arrested in Germany and handed over to the United States.

FBI operators said they taped a conversation in Germany where al-Moayyad is said to have boasted of raising funds for backing al-Qaeda and the Palestinian militant group Hamas.

But an official statement from the Yemeni government said that no evidence was found of any financial aid to al-Qaeda, and that raising funds for the cause of Palestinians was not a crime.

"We regret this sentence against a man who has spent his life and his money helping poor families and orphans. If we had concrete evidence that al-Moayyad was guilty, we would not have defended him," the official statement said.

Hamoud al-Tharehi, head of the National Public Committee for Defending al-Moayyad said the sentence against him for supporting Hamas is unfair "because 1.5 billion Muslims donate for Hamas and for all Palestinians against Israel."

Foreign minister Abu-Bakr al-Qerbi said the Yemeni authorities had from the start opposed extradition of al-Moayyad to the United States. He said U.S. law "is not applied evenly around the world."

The Islamic opposition party Islah criticised the United States for abandoning human values in its fight against terrorism. Al-Moayyad’s lawyer Khalid al-Anisi warned that the verdict would widen the divide between the United States, and Arab and Islamic countries.

But anger is turning against the Yemeni government too. Lawyer Naji Allaw said in a statement that Arab governments are unable to defend their citizens. "Arab people are imprisoned by their leaders and Arab leaders are America’s prisoners," he said.

Chairperson of Yemeni Women’s Union Ramziah al-Eryani has urged civil society groups and local and international human rights organisations to step in to save al-Moayyad from a "failed and politicised jury."

Many Yemenis had expected al-Moayyad to be freed by the U.S. court. Legal experts say that the U.S. court could not convict al-Moayyad for actually providing any material support to al-Qaeda, which was the main charge against him.

"This is an illegal and illogical sentence," al-Anisi said. "It is a message to Muslims that says this will be the end of everyone who supports Palestinians."

The sentencing of al-Moayyad has united virtually all elements of Yemeni society that had been in conflict in recent days. The government and the opposition Islah party are united on this issue, as are civil society groups and the government.

Several of these groups had attacked the government strongly over the recent hike in fuel prices at the behest of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The groups are backing government demands now for a review of the sentence.

But few think that the U.S. ruling could now be reversed. And many expect that this will have a bearing on the extent of support the Yemeni government may now offer the United States in fighting terrorism.

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