SANAA, Yemen, Aug. 15 (UPI) -- Yemen said Sunday it is demanding the hand over of a suspected al-Qaida member recently arrested by British authorities.
The ruling National Congress Party issued a statement saying the suspect, Abu Issa al-Hindi, is wanted on charges of kidnapping westerners in Yemen. Yemeni officials said British authorities recently arrested him, along with other al-Qaida suspects.
The statement said the authorities have been searching for al-Hindi, also known as Bilal, for five years and for kidnapping American tourists in Yemen in 1998.
The statement quoted security sources as saying the suspect was one of the activists affiliated with the Egyptian Abu Hamza al-Masri, who carries a British citizenship and whom Sanaa accuses of planning the abduction of 17 foreign tourists six years ago.
The tourists were eventually freed in a Yemeni commando operation, but since then Yemen has been seeking the extradition of al-Masri from London, which arrested him two months ago.
But there is no extradition treaty between Britain and Yemen.
Al-Hindi managed to sneak into the United States in 2000 and allegedly helped collect information that was used in planning the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks in New York and Washington.
