U.S. Appeal Court looks today into the appeal raised by Sheikh Mohammed Al-Moyyad and his companion Mohammed Zaid's defense team against the 2003 first-instance ruling by a Brookline court that sentenced Sheikh al-Moayyad to 75-year term in jail and his companion to serve 45 years, along with a fine of around $1 million, after being allegedly linked to Al-Qaeda and supportive of terrorism.

Source from Islah Party noted that Al-Moyyad and Zaid will attend the sessions; however, representatives from the Yemeni Embassy in Washington and Lawyer Mohammed Naji Alaw – delegated by President Saleh to follow up the case – will attend them.

The defense team will attempt to refute the charges raised against Al-Moyyad and Zaid and challenge the illegality of the case as Brookline court is not the right place for conducting the trial because 11 September events took place in New York, but not in Brookline and thus a court in New York should have looked into the case.

Meanwhile, the National Committee for Defending Al-Moyyad and Zaid held last Saturday a press conference in which Lawyer Khalid Al-Anesi hoped the appeal court will issue a ruling in favor of Al-Moyyad and Zaid or to disapprove the proceeding of the first-instance ruling as being illegal.

Al-Anesi hoped the Sheikh and his assistant will be extradited to Yemen to spend the remaining period of the term, maintaining the European court is challenging the legality of extraditing Al-Moyyad to America by Germany, together with his detention circumstances.  

Replying to a question by a journalist claiming that Al-Moyyad's lawyer Stanley Cohen is Jewish, Al-Anesi hinted he is a famous lawyer and he is far better than many Arab leaders.

Head of the committee Hamoud Al-Dharhi assured there will be an unprecedented move in case the first-instance ruling was approved by the appeals court in an effort to pressure the U.S. authorities to release them.

Al-Dharhi further called on national and international human rights organizations to exercise a pressure on White House Administration to set Al-Moyyad and Zaid free. 

He also noted the new American Ambassador to Yemen showed understanding concerning the issue, while accusing the former American officials in Sana'a, including deputy ambassador Nabil Khouri described by him as arrogant and vaunt, of being partial. He hinted the new officials promised to refer the issue to the concerned authorities.

Islah media source stressed Al-Moyyad health is deteriorating and Zaid's psychological state is bad because of the bad treatment they meet at Colorado prison authority.

During his visit to Washington, President Saleh asked for the repatriation of Sheikh Muhammad Ali Al-Moyyad, along with his assistant Mohammed Zaid – who is serving a prison term after being convicted of supporting Hamas – but acquitted of supporting al-Qaeda.

Despite the different official requests by Yemen to release Al-Moyyad and his companions, the U.S. authorities turned a deaf ear to them. Yemeni human rights organizations are agitating for Sheik's release on the grounds of declining health who suffers severe asthma, diabetes and bone problems.

Al-Moyyad was arrested in Germany with his companion Mohammad Zaid in June 2003 after he traveled there for medical purposes and to meet someone he was told would make a donation to his charity society. However, that turned out to be a trick by Mohammed Al-Ansi, an agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

Al-Ansi made this ruse on the grounds that he will be granted a big sum of money and as well as the American nationality; however, he was declined this right later on, causing him to burn himself in front of the While House in protest against the American authorities not keeping their promises.