THREE Islamic militants yesterday went on trial over last month's Yemen kidnap massacre as a British hostage in the country was unexpectedly freed by his captors.
The three, who were captured after the rescue operation on December 29, had their cases adjourned for at least a week.
Their leader, Zein Al-Abidine al-Mihdar, 28, proclaimed: ''I am innocent. I am just a holy warrior in the name of God.''
Oil worker John Brooke, 46, from Norwich, who was seized on Saturday by four men during an evening stroll, was described as in ''good spirits'' and recovering well after being freed.
His wife, Katherine, said she was ''totally elated'' her husband had been freed in what she understood to be an exchange deal between his kidnappers and security forces said to have taken place to avoid a repeat of last month's killings during the rescue.
British Ambassador Vic said he did not know whether a deal had been made to secure the release of Mr Brooke, who is due to fly home today.
In Britain, a survivor of the kidnap massacre said the three suspects in court yesterday should be spared execution if found guilty, and a row grew over the continued detention of five Britons suspected of terrorism offences.
Laurence Whitehouse, 54, spoke after the funeral in Hampshire of his primary school teacher wife Margaret, one of three Britons and an Australian killed in the controversial rescue attempt last month.
Mr Whitehouse, who had been among the 16 tourists kidnapped during a holiday, said he and his wife had always been opposed to capital punishment, calling it ''barbaric''.
Under Islamic law, it is likely that the families of the three Britons killed will be asked if they want to spare the lives of the gang.
The funeral of a Scottish victim, 34-year-old Ruth Williamson, who worked at Gogarburn Hospital in Edinburgh, is due to take place in the city tomorrow.
Earlier, confusion surrounded the arrest of five other Britons in Aden over whether they had been charged.
The Yemeni ambassador to London, Dr Hussein al Amri, insisted the group had been charged with ''bombing in Yemen'' and links to the kidnappers of the Western tourists, but British officials and the group's Yemeni lawyer, Badr Basunaid, later denied this.
Mr Basunaid complained that he had been barred access to the men and insisted ''confessions'' admitting to have met kidnap gang leader Al-Mihdar, also known as Abu Hassan, were made under torture.
Interviewed on BBC Radio Scotland, Foreign Secretary Robin Cook said the five - Mohsin Ghalain, 18, from London, Ghulam Hussein, 25, from Luton, and Shahid Butt, 33, Malik Nassar Harhra, 26, and Samad Ahmed, 21, all from Birmingham - had not yet been charged.
He added: ''I have twice spoken to the Prime Minister of Yemen urging him that these men either must be released or charged.''
A woman who claims to be the mother of another teenage Briton being hunted by the Yemeni authorities appeared on Channel 4 News last night to say he was innocent.
The woman, known only as Valerie, said she had been married to London-based religious leader Sheikh Abu Hamza and believes their 17-year-old son Mohammed Mustafa Kamal is now wanted by the Yemen government.
The youngster apparently went on the run after escaping security forces when they pounced on the group of British Muslims last month.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article