Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, October/November 1998, pages 38-41

Issues in the News

Compiled by Delinda C. Hanley

ARABIAN PENINSULA AND GULF

Some U.S. Troops Leave Gulf:

U.S. forces in the Gulf were ordered cut back in May from 37,000 to 20,000, and in June U.S. F-117 military aircraft were pulled out of Kuwait. By the end of July, 17 ships and 162 U.S. military aircraft remained in the region.

Heat Wave Slows Gulf:

Across the Gulf, work schedules were adjusted and productivity goals lowered due to the unprecedented summer heat wave, according to the Saudi Gazette. Heat-related health problems were significant as hospitals recorded many cases of dehydration, giddiness, body ache, nausea, and serious sunburns. Arabian Poultry Farms in Al-Kharj, Saudi Arabia, reported chicken deaths had doubled. The harshest summer in years also caused the loss of some sheep and cattle. Hours were changed to help construction workers for the Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu deal with the heat.

Bahrain Movie Theaters and Pepsi-Cola Form Alliance:

A new six-screen multiplex cinema opened at Seef Mall in Manama this summer, bringing total movie theaters in Bahrain to 11. The Saudi Gazette reported that all theaters will sell Pepsi-Cola products in accordance with an exclusive joint sales and marketing contract. Bahrain theater owners and Pepsi-Cola International managers toasted their new alliance with cans of Pepsi, as they looked forward to joint advertising campaigns promoting Pepsi and blockbuster films.

Oman and Iran Discuss Hormuz:

Joint military maneuvers in the Strait of Hormuz, the northern Gulf shipping route between Iran and Oman through which a fifth of the world’s crude oil passes, are under discussion between Oman and Iran, according to the Aug. 7 Khaleej Times, published in Dubai. Iran wants the U.S. and other foreign forces in the region to leave and let the Arab states of the Gulf depend on regional cooperation to ensure their security.

False Alarm at Bahrain Navy Base:

A suspicious car triggered a temporary security scare Aug. 30 at headquarters of the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet in Bahrain, a military spokesman reported. All vehicles are carefully checked as they enter and leave the base. Checks include undercarriage and trunk inspections and the use of dogs.

Dubai Seeks More Tourism:

Dubai’s focus on economic diversity has made tourism a central source of revenue. Dubai has cornered 60 percent of the tourism industry in the United Arab Emirates and has almost 70 percent of the nation’s hotels. A Magic Theme Park, scheduled to be operational by the end of 2001, will increase hotel occupancy rates and attract even more visitors. By emphasizing the hospitality and rich culture of the Arab world, Dubai also hopes to become a regular stop for the cruise line industry.

Death Sentence in Dubai:

A 26-year-old Omani national was sentenced to death for drug dealing in Dubai after he was convicted of selling 33 pounds of hashish for $20,000. Like adjacent Saudi Arabia, the UAE has imposed the death penalty for drug dealers since 1995, and several foreigners have been sentenced to death in Dubai this year.

Kuwait Remembers Iraqi Invasion:

On Aug. 2, the eighth anniversary of the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, the Kuwait cabinet thanked the world community for its assistance in liberating Kuwait and restoring its sovereignty, and for forcing Iraq to implement all international resolutions related to the invasion. A study released on the anniversary declared that Iraqi mines placed on Kuwait territory or in its territorial waters during the occupation have killed more than 1,700 people and injured 2,300. Most of the injured are children. In addition to those numbers, 84 experts have died and 200 more have been injured clearing the mines.

Qatar Voter Registration Begins:

Voters will register during the first two weeks of October for the first municipal elections ever held in Qatar. A government-organized press committee for the polls will use various media to educate voters on their responsibilities. Candidates must obtain permission for advertising and they will not be allowed to put up advertisements on walls of establishments.

Yemeni Passports to be Examined:

After Khalid Salim, charged in the Aug. 7 U.S. Embassy bombing in Kenya, was found to be traveling on a Yemeni passport, Yemen has agreed to limit issuance of its passports to non-Yemenis. Following Sa lim’s arrest, 20 other Arabs with Yemeni passports were detained. The United States has asked Yemen to hand over files of Arabs who have received Yemeni passports, strip non-Yemenis of these passports, and stop giving passports to non-Yemeni nationals. Passports have been issued to non-Yemenis from Algeria, Egypt, and Palestine who had fought against the Russians in Afghanistan.

Saudi-Yemen Borders to be Demarcated:

Saudi Arabia and Yemen have agreed to settle their decades-old border dispute peacefully, their foreign ministers told a joint news conference at the end of July. Sea and land border demarcation committees will begin settling the differences once and for all. Meanwhile, growing lawlessness and corruption is said to be threatening Yemen’s fragile democracy. Since a June 19 decision to remove subsidies on wheat and flour and raise fuel prices by as much as 40 percent, there has been growing anger, especially among the third of all Yemenis who are unemployed.

Septuplets Released:

The first septuplets to be born to a Saudi Arabian couple were released from Abha General Hospital in August. Abdullah Muhammad Al-Somman, now father to 14 children, has built a new floor in his house to add space for the four boys and three girls and maids hired to help care for them. The mother of the septuplets has spent mornings at the hospital and afternoons with their seven older children.

Training Center for Game Rangers to Open:

The first training center for game rangers in the Middle East opened in September in Saudi Arabia. A total of 10 Saudi rangers and five from other Gulf Cooperation Council members and other Arab countries enrolled for the first six-week program. The center will train Saudi and other Arab rangers to manage reserved areas, conduct field surveys, care for animals, and use information systems.

Kids Use Aramco Mobile Library:

Over 32,000 Saudi school children from several parts of the Kingdom have visited Aramco’s mobile library in the first six months of 1998. The library’s goal is to encourage children to read books on every subject, including literature, religion, history, geography, science, and art. The mobile library is one of the educational services provided by Aramco’s popular permanent exhibition focusing on the history of oil and gas discoveries in Saudi Arabia.

Jubail Port Usage Climbs:

The Jubail Commercial Port, privatized in November 1997 in a 10-year contract with Dena Marine to manage and run stevedoring jobs, is enjoying a surge in shipping operations. In 1997, the Saudi Gazette re ported, the port handled 1.9 million tons of cargoes, and this tonnage is expected to increase dramatically by the year 2000. The government plans to turn over gradually the operation and management of seaports and other sectors of the national economy to private companies. Local agents and shippers say the privatization has improved the quality of service at Jubail Commercial Port, which is equipped with the most modern handling equipment, including state-of-the-art safety and fire-fighting facilities.

Saudi Hajj Pilgrims Have to Wait:

The Arab News reports that as of March 1999 Saudi Arabian citizens and non-citizen residents who make the pilgrimage to Makkah will have to wait five years to repeat their pilgrimage to the holy city. Citizens who want to perform the hajj will get a hajj card from the Civil Identification Bureau and Passports. This is an effort to reduce, or at least keep steady, the growing number of persons who perform the hajj. At present, two million Muslims from around the world gather in Makkah for the hajj each year.

Foreign Workers Expelled:

Saudi Arabia has expelled more than 750,000 foreign workers who have violated residency regulations since last October’s amnesty expired. Another 485,000 workers legalized their residency papers and were allowed to remain. The campaign aims at correcting the status of all foreign residents whose papers are not in order.

FERTILE CRESCENT

Jordan Pays High Cost for Peace:

Jordan hoped for a new era of regional prosperity when it made peace with Israel in 1994, but instead its economy has ground to a halt, reports the Saudi Gazette. “In Jordan our economic growth rate has declined to almost zero since 1996,” Jordan’s Crown Prince Hassan told an Aug. 30 conference in Amman. Israel has routinely obstructed Jordanian exports to the Palestinians by restricting border traffic, thus retaining a tight grip over Jordan’s second most important trade partner.

Queen Noor Pledges Support:

Jordan’s Queen Noor vowed to join the international fight against landmines, at a landmine victims’ conference in Amman, the Khaleej Times reported July 12. The landmine treaty prohibiting the use, stockpiling, production, and transfer of anti-personnel mines will go into effect when at least 40 countries ratify it. To date 25 have joined the prohibition. Queen Noor said that more than half of the world’s deployed landmines litter the Middle East, and that in Jordan 10 percent of the population live in areas that are dangerous and economically unproductive because of landmines.

Lebanese Fighter Freed:

Souha Bechara, a 31-year-old Lebanese Christian jailed without trial for the last 10 years after a failed attempt to assassinate the commander of the Israeli-backed South Lebanon Army (SLA), Antoine Lahd, was freed Sept. 3. An international campaign to release Ms. Bechara began two years ago, and several months ago a committee in Israel added its support to international pressure. The French government reportedly helped arrange her release from the notorious SLA-run Khiyam jail in south Lebanon. When Bechara was asked about her interrogation in Israel and torture in Khiyam prison, the Saudi Gazette reported she said, “I am ashamed to talk about a few electric shocks…when recalling the Qana massacre,” referring to the 105 civilian refugee deaths caused by Israeli shelling of a U.N. post at Qana in 1996.

Israelis Kill Amal Official:

An Israeli helicopter raid killed Hussam Al Amin, head of the pro-Syrian Amal militia’s operations in the western section of south Lebanon on Aug. 25. Amal is one of at least three political party-affiliated Lebanese militias trying to oust Israeli troops from Israel’s self-declared security zone in south Lebanon. The Israeli raid and a rocket attack in the eastern Bekaa Valley followed detonation of a roadside bomb that caused the 20th death of a pro-Israeli SLA militiaman in 1998. Israel has attacked Lebanon by air 74 times this year, according to the Gulf News, wounding 47 civilians. The Arab News reported Israel is using its continued occupation of Lebanon to test a new guided cruise missile called the “Long Spike,” launching the missiles from Taibe in the Israeli-occupied border zone.

Syria Charges U.S. Wants to Split Arabs From Iran:

While the U.S. improves its own relations with Iran, the American-Israeli policy is to impede all relations between Arabs and Tehran, according to Tishrin, the official Syrian newspaper. The paper chastised the “hypocrisy” of Washington, while adding that “Arab-Iranian relations have improved despite a barrage of moralizing from the West.”

IRAN/IRAQ

Iran Denies Advisers Sent to Brunei:

Iran’s ambassador to Brunei denied charges that Tehran had sent advisers to the sultanate in order to strengthen the influence of Muslim conservatives. Javad Ansari, the departing Iranian ambassador, said the charges made by associates of Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah’s estranged brother, Prince Jefri, were false. Prince Jefri’s associates claim that Iran wields undue influence in Brunei.

State Funeral for Iranian Prison Head:

Assadollah Lajevardi, the 63-year-old for mer chief of Iranian prisons who was assas sinated Aug. 23, was given a state fun eral attended by thousands of mourners. The Mojahedin Khalq, Iran’s principal opposition group, claimed responsibility for killing Lajevardi, who they claim murdered, mistreated and tortured political prisoners. Iranian conservatives accuse Western countries of protecting and supporting the Iraq and Paris-based Mojahedin.

Iran Grants Iraqis Asylum:

Iran has agreed to give political asylum to 3,500 Iraqi Shi’i Muslims who have taken refuge in the Rafah camp in Saudi Arabia. The Iraqis join 2,000 of their compatriots already granted asylum in Iran in 1992 at the end of the 1991 Gulf war.

POW Exchange Moving Slowly:

The Red Cross is meeting with Iraqi prisoners of war still in Iran, the Saudi Gazette reported July 22. Iraqis seeking political asylum will remain as refugees in Iran, and those who want to go home will be returned to Iraq. Iran accuses Iraq of delaying the return of prisoners captured during the 1980-88 war, and slowness in accounting for those missing in action. In April 1998, 6,000 POWs were returned in the biggest exchange since 1990, when 75,000 prisoners were exchanged. There still are 3,738 Iranian POWs in Iraq and 18,000 Iraqis in Iran.

Iran Agrees to Retrial:

Helmut Hofer, 57, a German businessman accused and sentenced to death in Iran for having sexual relations with a Muslim woman, has been given a new trial behind closed doors. The Khaleej Times reported that during his first trial, Hofer, who has converted to Islam, said he wanted to marry the woman.

Iran Asks Pakistan to Help Return Diplomats Missing in Afghanistan:

The Iranian deputy foreign minister asked for Pakistan’s help in finding Iranian citizens missing in areas of Afghanistan seized by the Taliban, the Arab News reported Aug. 29. Tehran said 10 diplomats, a journalist from the Iranian state IRNA news agency, and 35 truck drivers had been missing in Afghanistan since the beginning of August. The Taliban said it had no information about the diplomats and the newsman, but admitted holding the drivers.

Argentina Breaking Diplomatic Relations with Iran:

Argentina and Iran have reduced their diplomatic representation to minimal levels since Argentine and FBI investigators accused Iranian diplomats of being behind the 1994 bombing of the Jewish community center in Buenos Aires in which 86 persons were killed and 200 injured, The New York Times reported. Argentina, home of the world’s seventh largest Jewish community, has reinforced security at its borders and at Jewish institutions. Iran responded with trade sanctions against Argentina. Buenos Aires now has reduced its embassy staff in Tehran to one diplomat and has asked Iran to do the same.

Iraq Weapons Inspections Collapse:

With the support of Iraq’s National Assembly, President Saddam Hussain, on Aug. 5, suspended cooperation with United Nations weapons inspectors. As a condition for resuming cooperation, Iraq asked the U.N. Special Commission (UNSCOM) to restructure to eliminate American influence on the commission and the supervision of inspectors. In May, the U.N. Security Council had promised to scale back inspections if Baghdad cooperated with the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) regarding the dismantling of Iraq’s nuclear arms program. Chief U.N. weapons inspector Richard Butler said that the U.N. had been very close to certifying that Iraq had destroyed its chemical weapons and missiles, though biological weapons were still an issue. Since the standoff, U.N. experts have been barred from inspecting suspected weapons sites, but U.N. monitoring cameras and sensors have remained in place.

Iraq’s First Test-tube Baby Born Under Embargo:

Iraq announced the birth Aug. 31 of a nine-pound baby, named Saddam after the Iraqi president, the first “test-tube baby” born since the U.N. embargo was imposed on Iraq eight years ago. At Baghdad’s Alwiya specialist hospital, recently re-opened after being closed for seven years, an all-Iraqi medical team helped the mother conceive after six years of infertility. During the U.N. embargo, infant mortality has increased nearly 16-fold. In July 1998 6,495 children under the age of five died, compared to 387 who died in July 1989, the year before sanctions were imposed.

ISRAEL/PALESTINE

Roadblocks Cause Deaths:

A newborn Palestinian died because of delays caused by an Israeli roadblock near Hebron on Aug. 25. A driver told soldiers at a checkpoint that his sister-in-law, passenger Fadwa Abdel-Salam, was in labor and needed to get to the hospital. Gulf News reported the soldiers did not allow the car to enter Hebron and told them to take a longer alternate route. The baby was born in the car and by the time they finally reached the hospital, the doctors could not save the life of the newborn. Israeli officers said they will investigate the incident, one of a series of almost identical cases in which soldiers have held up pregnant women or critically ill patients, resulting in death of the patient. Another such fatal incident occurred two days later, on Aug. 23, when a three-month-old baby was prevented from entering Hebron at a checkpoint during a closure, and died from influenza, which would have been treatable if he had been able to reach the hospital in time.

Palestinian Refused Emergency Treatment:

Mohammad Al Karaki, a 30-year-old Palestinian resident of Shufat refugee camp in Jerusalem, died after an Israeli ambulance refused to assist him. Family members repeatedly called for an ambulance after Al Karaki’s 10 a.m. heart attack. The ambulance stayed at the entrance to the camp for 90 minutes, refusing to enter without a military escort, and Al Karaki died at 11:30 a.m. Residents of the camp responded angrily to news of the delay in providing emergency medical assistance and clashed with Israeli forces.

Israel Blocks West Bank Water and Travel:

Israeli forces have offered no explanation for their continued blockade of the village of Tammun, home to 10,000 Palestinians, 20 kilometers northeast of the West Bank city of Nablus, in what used to be the grain basket of Palestine. The Saudi Gazette reported Sept. 1 that since Aug. 16 no one has been allowed outside the village to work and the army enters every night to search houses, destroy property, and arrest people. Villagers cannot dig new wells, though their village well is polluted and nearly empty. Meanwhile, in the nearby Jewish settlements of Beqaot and Roi, settlers have unrestricted access to wells and these settle ments now occupy the only green land on the plains. Tammun village and its surrounding land has been declared a closed military area and Palestinians can enter only on Saturdays.

Water Shortage in West Bank:

The refugee camp of Dahisha near Bethlehem had no water for a month, the Khaleej Times reported Aug. 5. In the last two months, 400,000 Palestinians have gone without water for days at a time. Water is supplied to 120,000 residents of Hebron on alternate days. Under the Oslo accords, the issue of water is reserved for “final-status” talks. Until that time, Israel controls all of the aquifers in the West Bank, and drilling for water is subject to the dictates of the state-owned Mekrot water company. “Since 1967 Israel has not allowed us to dig one well,” according to Kamal Al Duwaik, a member of the Hebron town council.

Israel Dumps Toxic Waste in Palestine:

Dr. Abdul-Rahman Abu-Hanieh has seen 10 times as many cancer cases since Israel began dumping toxic wastes near the occupied West Bank town of Azzun, according to a July 26 article in the Khaleej Times. It costs $65 to hire a driver to dump a five-ton truck of waste chemicals in the West Bank versus $11,000 to dispose of the same volume in an approved dump site for toxic wastes in the Negev desert. Israel is closing many of its dumps due to the ecological problems and pollution affecting water sources. When a bridge over the polluted Yarkon River collapsed in July 1997 during an international athletic event, two of the four Australian athletes who fell into the river died from swallowing toxic water.

Tel Aviv Spy Chief Angers Israel:

Angered by a U.S. report which said the Palestinian Authority is cooperating fully with Israel on security matters, Prime Minister Netanyahu has asked for the transfer of the CIA’s Tel Aviv station chief out of Israel.This unconfirmed information initially was released by Al Watan Al Arabi, a Paris-based Arab-language newspaper, and subsequently in a report in the Forward, a New York Jewish newspaper, on Aug. 8. The station chief, Stanley Moskovitz, exercising U.S. responsibilities under the Oslo accords, earlier had aroused Netanyahu’s ire when Moskovitz drafted a security cooperation agreement between Israel and Palestine, which Netanyahu later disavowed.

Half of All Israel-Born Babies Are Arab or Haredi:

A Tel Aviv company that distributes free gifts to obstetric wards said that 47 percent of all babies delivered in Israeli hospitals are Arab or haredi (ultra-Orthodox Jewish), the Jerusalem Post reported Aug 8. According to data collected in 24 of the 27 Israeli hospitals that deliver babies, 35 percent of all babies are Arab and 12 percent are haredi. The data was gathered because new mothers were asked if they wanted a pamphlet from advertisers in Hebrew or Arabic, and food gifts prepared with kash rut supervision favored by the haredi population.

A Quarter of Housing Units for Jewish Settlers Empty:

Almost a quarter of the government-built housing units in Jewish settlements in the West Bank between 1989 and 1992 have never been occupied, Moshe Eilat, an Israeli housing ministry adviser, confirmed, despite Prime Minister Netanyahu’s insistence that more construction is imperative due to population growth. The Israeli minister was responding to a report by the Israeli Peace Now organization that many of the 44,000 homes built in Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza are empty. Eilat explained that the government’s policy is to “have more supply than demand” to keep the price of settlement homes affordable and push down prices.

Israeli Bulldozers Strike Twice:

The home of Salim and Aravia Shawamreh was demolished twice within one month despite efforts of Israeli peace activists and Palestinian residents of Anata, north of Jerusalem, to save it. It first was bulldozed July 9, but the same activists who begged Israeli forces to stop their destruction at that time then spent July 30 rebuilding the home together. As concrete was poured for the new roof, Israelis and Palestinians danced and sang together. At 5:30 a.m. Aug. 3, however, officials from the Israeli Civil Administration of the West Bank, backed by army troops and police, demolished the home for the second time. The bulldozer also destroyed the family’s garden, and the family’s temporary tent shelter was confiscated.

Israel Allocates More Money for Settlements:

Israel’s Knesset has agreed to earmarking $14 million for Israeli settlement activities in the occupied West Bank, Gulf News reported Aug. 26. This is in addition to money already approved to build permanent structures at the Tel Rumeda settlement, in the heart of Hebron. Prime Minister Netanyahu also has agreed in principal to contribute $20 million annually to a program to ensure that every Jewish youngster in the world has a free trip to Israel, Forward and the Jewish Week of New York reported July 31.

Israel Fears Far-Right Jewish Attacks:

Security was tightened around Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa mosque and Palestininan government leaders after reports that far-right Jewish radicals planned terrorist attacks. The Arab News reported Prime Minister Netanyahu held a meeting Aug. 30, to discuss the danger of Jewish militants carrying out anti-Arab attacks to prevent further Israeli withdrawals from the West Bank. Al Aqsa mosque was closed Aug. 28 to protest the Israeli police beating of a Palestinian inside the holy site.

NORTH AFRICA

Egypt Disclaims Abu Nidal Rumors:

Egypt has denied earlier reports that it is holding Palestinian terrorist Abu Nidal after he was caught crossing into Egypt from Libya. Abu Nidal, according to the Gulf News of Dubai, may be suffering from leukemia. He headed the Fatah Revolutionary Council, which was linked with bombings and assassinations, many against moderate PLO leaders, in a campaign that began in the mid-1970s.

Tunisia Refuses Visa to Israeli Envoy:

The Tunisian Foreign Ministry has refused to issue a visa for Israel’s incoming diplomatic representative. The ministry had instructed the current Israeli envoy, Shalom Cohen, who heads a low-profile office, to remain in Tunis. The Tunisian action was taken in accordance with a call by the Organization of the Islamic Conference for Muslim states to reconsider their ties with Israel because of Israel’s failure to meet its Oslo accord commitments with the Palestinians.

China Linked to Libyan Missiles:

New intelligence data points to Chinese technical assistance in Libyan missile research and development, according to the June 16 Washington Times. If the intelligence is confirmed, China is violating 1994 agreements to abide by the guidelines of the 29-nation Missile Technology Control Regime, which bars exports of technology for missiles with ranges greater than 186 miles. Libya is believed to already have Scud B missiles and to be developing a 573-mile-range missile called the Al Fatah.

Progress in Pan Am 103 Trial:

The U.S. and U.K. have agreed to a Libyan proposal to allow two Libyans charged with the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, to be tried outside the U.S. or Britain. The U.N. Security Council has voted unanimously to lift the economic and travel sanctions that have been in place for the last six years against Libya if Libya turns over the two suspects for trial in the Netherlands under Scottish law.

Qaddafi Accuses Britain:

Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi says he has proof that British intelligence agents plotted to kill him in 1996. This claim surfaced earlier when David Shayler, a former British intelligence officer under arrest in Paris, said Britain had given 100,000 pounds to an Arab extremist to kill Qaddafi, but that the bomb was placed under the wrong car and killed bystanders when it exploded. Britain denies the accusation. Qad dafi, who made his charges while seated in a wheelchair, said he had broken his leg in a recent sports mishap. There had been rumors that his motorcade was attacked on a trip through the desert a few months ago.

Wena Hotels Seized in Egypt:

Wena Hotels, a British hotel chain with a flourishing business in Egypt requested arbitration July 10, against the Egyptian government at the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes in Washington, DC. Wena claims $62 million in damages from Egypt after its hotels in Cairo and Luxor have been seized by the Egyptian government. The action reinforced concerns about Egyp'­s willingness to protect foreign investments.

Morocco Hosts Al-Quds Committee Meeting in Casablanca:

The Organization of the Islamic Conference’s Al-Quds (Jerusalem ) Committee, a committee of 16 Islamic countries chaired by King Hassan of Morocco, met in Casa blanca, Morocco July 29 to 30 to discuss the situation in Jerusalem and called on all Muslim states to consider ending ties with Israel. The Arab News reported that the group asked the Vatican to oppose recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and called upon the U.N. Security Council, as well as Christians of every nation, to resist Israel’s attempts to “Judaize” the holy city. The OIC also asked governments, banks, companies, and financial institutions to increase financial aid to Palestinians in Jerusalem.

Algerian Terrorist Trial Begins:

The trial of 138 people accused of belonging to the Armed Islamic Group in Algeria began Sept. 1 under tight security near Paris, France. The prosecution contends that the defendants are part of a terrorist network set up to commit attacks in France in 1994 and 1995. Arrest of the suspects prompted a wave of terrorist attacks in which 14 people were killed. Many of the defendants have been detained for almost four years awaiting trial. If convicted they could face up to 10 years in jail for aiding and abetting terrorism.