Three women arrested in Yemen for terror charges

By Nasser Arrabyee/31/05/2010

The Yemeni intelligence agencies arrested three women for terror charges since the beginning of 2010, said the lawyer of the three women Monday.

An Australian woman, recently converted to Islam, was arrested from her apartment in Sana'a by the Yemeni intelligence on May 15, 2010, said Abdul Rehman Barman, the lawyer of the woman.

The Australian woman, named 'Shaylo Stefens' in her 30s, came to Yemen to learn about Islam and teach English to support herself and her two children, in September 2006, the lawyer said.

The two children, Omar, 7, and Amenh 5, were put under house arrest in the apartment of the mother in the northern outskirt of the Yemeni capital Sana'a.

The children are not allowed to meet any one as the Yemeni guards stand at the door of the apartment.


"I think the security people want to exercise pressure on the mother by separating her from the children to make her talk if she has links with any terror groups," the lawyer Barman told Gulf News.

"I tried to visit the two children yesterday, but I was not allowed."


The babysitter of the two children now is the mother's friend who was also arrested by the Yemeni intelligence for terror charges and was released on February 14, 2010.


This second woman, named Rafat Hussein, from Bangladesh, was arrested along with her brother Sadman Hussein on the same day, February 14th, 2010.

"The brother and the sister were arrested while preparing to leave Yemen on last February, but the sister was released hours after the arrest and they kept the brother in prison until now," said Barman.

Rafat and her brother Sadman came to Yemen late 2009 to study Arabic language in Sana'a. They shortly left Canada where their father had sent them to study.

The third woman was also from Bangladesh and she arrested in Sana'a where she was studying Arabic language on February 19, 2010 for terror charges.

The woman, named Chanofa, in her 20s, was released and immediately deported to her country at the end of March.

"She only informed me on her release after she was deported," the lawyer said.