On 3 February 2006, a group of 23 convicts escaped from a prison administered by the

Political Security Organization Yemen's primary and most feared internal security and intelligence-gathering force is the Political Security Organization (PSO) جهاز الأمن السياسي, led by military officers; it reports directly to the president and operates its o ...

(PSO) in

Sanaa Sanaa, officially the Sanaa Municipality, is the ''de jure'' capital and largest city of Yemen. The city is the capital of the Sanaa Governorate, but is not part of the governorate, as it forms a separate administrative unit. At an elevation ...

, Yemen. The prisoners had spent two months digging a 44-meter long

tunnel A tunnel is an underground or undersea passageway. It is dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, or laid under water, and is usually completely enclosed except for the two portals common at each end, though there may be access and ve ...

from their cell, which they had all shared, using makeshift tools such as spoons and cooking pots. They escaped through the tunnel into the women's bathroom of a nearby mosque, where they recited prayers and left through the front doors. Among the escapees included several militants affiliated with

al-Qaeda , image = Flag of Jihad.svg , caption = Jihadist flag, Flag used by various al-Qaeda factions , founder = Osama bin Laden{{Assassinated, Killing of Osama bin Laden , leaders = {{Plainlist, * Osama bin Lad ...

and its local organization in Yemen, most notably

Jamal al-Badawi Jamal Ahmad Mohammad Ali Al Badawi () (1960 or 1963 – 1 January 2019) was a Yemeni who was indicted as an accomplice for his role in the 2000 USS ''Cole'' bombing off the coast of Aden, Yemen, which killed 17 American sailors on 12 October ...

, a mastermind of the USS ''Cole'' bombing,

Fawaz al-Rabeiee Fawaz Yahya al-Rabeiee (1979 – October 1, 2006) was a Yemeni Islamist militant who was a cell ringleader for al-Qaeda in Yemen (AQY). Rabeiee and his cell were responsible for several attacks and plots on behalf of AQY, most prominently the M ...

, the leader of a militant cell responsible for the MV ''Limburg'' bombing, and Jaber Elbanah, a US citizen associated with the

Lackawanna Six The Lackawanna Six (also known as the Lackawanna Cell, or Buffalo Cell) is a group of six Yemeni-American friends who pled guilty to charges of providing material support to al-Qaeda in December 2003, based on their having attended an al-Qaeda tr ...

. The escape was a major embarrassment for the Yemeni government and strained its counterterrorism-focused relations with the United States. Several commentators and officials suspected that members of the PSO may have facilitated the escape. An investigation launched by the Yemeni Interior Ministry concluded that the prison guards did not take sufficient precautions to prevent the escape, with 12 officers being tried and found guilty of

gross negligence Gross negligence is the "lack of slight diligence or care" or "a conscious, voluntary act or omission in reckless disregard of a legal duty and of the consequences to another party." In some jurisdictions a person injured as a result of gross neg ...

. Yemeni authorities and security forces launched an intense manhunt for the 23 fugitives, with all but six of them remaining free by late 2007. Retrospectively, the escape has been seen by commentators and analysts as the catalyst for the revival of al-Qaeda's presence in Yemen. Two of the escapees,

Nasir al-Wuhayshi Nasir Abdel Karim al-Wuhayshi ('; also transliterated as Naser al-Wahishi, Nasser al-Wuhayshi) alias Abu Basir, (1 October 1976 – 12 June 2015) was a Yemeni Islamist, who served as the leader of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). ...

and

Qasim al-Raymi Qasim Mohamed Mahdi al-Raymi (; 5 June 1978 – 29 January 2020) was a Yemeni militant who was the emir of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). Al-Raymi was one of 23 men who escaped in the 3 February 2006 prison-break in Yemen, along with ...

, would go on to serve as leaders of al-Qaeda in Yemen and its successor organization,

al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula ( or : Tanẓīm Qā‘idat al-Jihād fī Jazīrat al-‘Arab, . Organization of Jihad's Base in the Arabian Peninsula), or AQAP is a Sunni Islam, Sunni Islamic extremism, Islamist militant organization which s ...

Context

After the killing of leader Abu Ali al-Harithi in 2002 and the arrest of his successor Muhammad al-Ahdal in 2003, al-Qaeda in Yemen was effectively eliminated as a threat. A crackdown on the rest of the group's leadership and local militants generally preferring to travel to Iraq to participate in the

insurgency An insurgency is a violent, armed rebellion by small, lightly armed bands who practice guerrilla warfare against a larger authority. The key descriptive feature of insurgency is its asymmetric warfare, asymmetric nature: small irregular forces ...

there left al-Qaeda in Yemen mostly dormant. With al-Qaeda relatively contained the Yemeni government shifted its focus elsewhere, primarily to the Houthi war in

Saada Governorate Saada () or Sa'dah is one of the governorates of Yemen. The governorate's seat and the largest city is Saada. It is the epicentre of Zaydism President

Ali Abdullah Saleh Ali Abdullah Saleh Affash (21 March 1947There is a dispute as to Saleh's date of birth, some saying that it was on 21 March 1942. See: However, by Saleh's own confession (an interview recorded in a YouTube video), he was born in 1947.4 Decembe ...

viewed the

Houthis The Houthis, officially known as Ansar Allah, is a Zaydism, Zaydi Shia Islamism, Shia Islamist political and military organization that emerged from Yemen in the 1990s. It is predominantly made up of Zaydi Shias, with their namesake leadersh ...

as a legitimate threat to his power rather than al-Qaeda, which was seen primarily as an issue for

the West West is a cardinal direction or compass point. West or The West may also refer to: Geography and locations Global context * The Western world * Western culture and Western civilization in general * The Western Bloc, countries allied with NAT ...

. Simultaneously, the United States had also deprioritized al-Qaeda as its main foreign policy issue regarding Yemen. Counterterrorism-focused ambassador Edmund Hull left the country in mid-2004 as the US began pressuring Saleh to address political reform and corruption.

Escape

All 23 fugitives were kept in a single cell in a below-surface prison underneath the PSO headquarters in Sanaa. The escape was likely inspired by the foiled tunnel escape in

Camp Bucca Camp Bucca () was a forward operating base that housed a theater internment facility maintained by the United States military in the vicinity of Umm Qasr, Iraq. After being taken over by the U.S. military (800th Military Police Brigade) in April ...

in Iraq the previous year. The plan could have came from an escapee from Iraq who had described it to the rest of the fugitives, or by a colluding visitor who had read about it on the internet. Initial estimates reported that the tunnel may have taken approximately two months to have complete. Several improvised tools were used to dig the tunnel, such as four soccer balls, shovels made from fan parts and spoons attached to broomsticks, and a u-shaped scoop made from three cookings pots attached to each other. Authorities found four soccer balls with plastic tubing attached to them, creating a device which allowed the inmates to breathe below surface while they were digging. Dirt from the tunnel was removed with two buckets and hid in various parts of their cells, such as under piles of clothing and in the cell bathroom, which was filled to its ceiling. The prisoners kicked a soccer ball in their cell and recited loud chants as they were digging in order to mask the sound of their work. In one instance, the prisoners attacked an officer and soldier who attempted to enter their ward in order to quell the chants. The tunnel itself was 60 by 80 centimeters wide, 44 meters-long, almost a third being within prison grounds, and went down 3 meters below the cell's surface. The southern wall of the prison, the direction in which the tunnel was dug, was 40 meters away from the cell of the prisoners. A 12-meter

dead-end street A dead end, also known as a ''cul-de-sac'' (; , ), a no-through road or a no-exit road, is a street with only one combined inlet and outlet. Dead ends are added to roads in urban planning designs to limit traffic in residential areas. Some d ...

then separated the wall with the al-Awkaf Mosque. Several guards outside the prison reported sounds of digging at different places and times, though their reports were not investigated any further. On 3 February, at around 4:30

AST AST, Ast, or ast may refer to: Science and technology * Attention schema theory, of consciousness or subjective awareness Computing * Abstract syntax tree, a finite, labeled, directed tree used in computer science * Anamorphic stretch transform, ...

, the escapees each crawled through the tunnel and breached the floor of the women's bathroom of the mosque, the least frequented part of the building as most Muslim women pray at home. They proceeded to recite morning prayers in the mosque and then left through the front doors among the attendants. The hole in the bathroom was eventually discovered by a janitor at the mosque. He informed the imam who later notified authorities, who had realized the escape by the next day.

Escapees

The Yemeni Ministry of Interior distributed a list containing the identities for 22 of the 23 escaped convicts on 3 February.

The Jamestown Foundation The Jamestown Foundation is a Washington, D.C.–based non-partisan defense policy think tank. Founded in 1984 as a platform to support Soviet defectors, its stated mission is to inform and educate policy makers about events and trends, which i ...

identifies the 23 fugitives as: *

, a central facilitator of the USS ''Cole'' bombing who was sentenced to death on 29 September 2004 for orchestrating the attack. He had previously escaped from an

Aden Aden () is a port city located in Yemen in the southern part of the Arabian peninsula, on the north coast of the Gulf of Aden, positioned near the eastern approach to the Red Sea. It is situated approximately 170 km (110 mi) east of ...

prison on 10 April 2003 alongside nine other suspects involved in the bombing, though he was recaptured by 19 March 2004. *

, the ringleader of a 15-man al-Qaeda cell responsible for several attacks and plots, including the attempted shootdown of a

Hunt Oil Hunt Oil Co. is an independent oil and gas company headquartered in Dallas, Texas. It conducts its main oil production activities in the United States, Canada and, as of 1984, in Yemen. In the past, the company was owned by American oil tycoon ...

helicopter and the MV ''Limburg'' bombing. He was sentenced to death by a court in February 2005. * Umar Saeed Jarallah, Muhammed al-Umda and Fawzi al-Wajayhi, members of Rabeiee's cell sentenced to prison in August 2004 for plotting the MV ''Limburg'' bombing. Jarallah's sentence was raised to 15 years in an appeal in February 2005, while the sentences of Umda and Wajayhi were upheld at 10 years. * Ibrahim al-Huwaydi, Aref Saleh Mujali, Muhammad al-Daylami and

, tried as part of Rabeiee's cell and found guilty in August 2004 for plotting to bomb several diplomatic embassies in Sanaa and to assassinate then US ambassador Hull. Their sentences of 5 years in prison were upheld in February 2005. * Hizam Saleh Mujali, sentenced to death as part of Rabeiee's cell for killing a police officer. * Ibrahim Mohammed al-Muqri, Abdullah Yahya al-Wadai, Mansur Nasser al-Bayhani and Shafiq Ahmad Zayd, charged as part of an 11-man cell accused of forging passports, possession of weapons and explosives, planning to travel to Iraq and forming an armed gang to carry out attacks in Yemen. The former three were convicted only of forging passports in March 2005, while Muqri was cleared of all charges. Despite this, the four men all remained imprisoned together until their escape. * Khaled Mohammed al-Batati and Abdulrahman Basurah, part of an 8-man militant cell in Yemen called "Kataib al-Tawhid", led by Iraqi militant Anwar al-Jilani. In August 2005, the group was found guilty of planning attacks on the British and Italian embassies and the French cultural center in Sanaa, Batati being sentenced to three years and two months in prison and Basurah being sentenced to three years and four months. * Abdullah Ahmad al-Raymi, arrested in

Qatar Qatar, officially the State of Qatar, is a country in West Asia. It occupies the Geography of Qatar, Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it shares Qatar–Saudi Arabia border, its sole land b ...

for fighting in

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

before he was extradited to Yemen in 2005 and sentenced to four years in prison for forging documents. * Jaber Elbanah, a US citizen and affiliate of the

who was arrested by Yemeni authorities in late 2003 in connection to the investigation of Fawaz al-Rabeiee. *

, a veteran al-Qaeda member who was arrested in

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

after fleeing Afghanistan in the aftermath of the

Battle of Tora Bora The Battle of Tora Bora was a military engagement that took place in the cave complex of Tora Bora, eastern Islamic State of Afghanistan, Afghanistan, from November 30December 17, 2001, during the final stages of the United States invasion of A ...

. He was extradited to Yemen by Iran in November 2003, where he was held without being officially charged for any crime before his escape. * Hamza al-Quaiti, Zakariya Hasan al-Bayhani and Zakariya Ubadi Qasim al-Yafai, extradited from Saudi Arabia in 2003 without any charges. * Yasser Nasser al-Hamayqani, charged with travelling to Iraq.

Investigation

Senior Interior Ministry officials held an emergency meeting shortly after the escape. A ministry spokesperson announced on 4 February that an investigation headed by the Interior Minister was underway in order to determine if the fugitives received any internal or external assistance. They also stated that the prison officials were reshuffled by Yemeni authorities and the prison chief and his deputy were both dismissed. The investigation was being headed by the National Security Bureau, the PSO's rival intelligence organization. PSO officers and soldiers were being investigated on the grounds that the prisoners could not have determined the direction and angle at which the tunnel was dug to the mosque without support from highly qualified individuals. A report on the investigation ran by a pro-government newspaper said that the prison guards did not take adequate steps to ensure that an escape would not occur. Outside co-conspirators were also found to have "helped in moving and hiding the escapees", according to an official. Five majors and two prison guards were detained and interrogated on 10 February in suspicion that they gave tools and information to the prisoners to help them escape. More than 80 people were detained for the investigation, including prison officers, relatives of the fugitives and members of Islamist groups. On 15 February, a Yemeni official stated that 135 people had been arrested and were being interrogated in connection to the escape. Authorities received "important information" from the detainees, who were arrested in police searches of suspected places and houses of relatives of the fugitives. A US request to interrogate the detainees was rejected by Yemeni authorities on the grounds that it violated the nation's sovereignty. On 21 February, an investigative committee published its official report on the escape, charging several prison officials with gross negligence which allowed the jailbreak to happen. On 27 April, officials confirmed that the suspects would be put on trial after the investigation was complete. They also stated that the individuals would be tried in a

military court A court-martial (plural ''courts-martial'' or ''courts martial'', as "martial" is a postpositive adjective) is a military court or a trial conducted in such a court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of members of the arme ...

. On 25 May, attorney general Abdullah al-Olufi reported that a military court had put on trial 12 PSO officers accused of negligence leading to the escape. Four officers were convicted of facilitating the escape, while the rest were found guilty of negligence. On 12 July, the court gave sentences to the 12 men ranging from 8 months to 3 years in prison. The officers were all dismissed from their positions, but kept their retirement payment and

remuneration Remuneration is the pay or other financial compensation provided in exchange for an employee's ''services performed'' (not to be confused with giving (away), or donating, or the act of providing to). Remuneration is one component of reward managem ...

Reactions

The escape was a major embarrassment for the Yemeni government and called into question its counterterrorism campaign against al-Qaeda. It placed a significant strain on relations between Yemen and the United States, and was a setback in their partnership against terrorism. US officials were particularly angered that Badawi was among the escapees, due to the fact that he was involved in an attack on a

US Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

warship and had had escaped from prison once before. State Department spokesperson

Sean McCormack Sean McCormack (born 1964) is the Vice President of Communications at Chevron U.S.A. Inc. McCormack is responsible for corporate and brand communications, in addition to reputation management, employee and executive communications. He is a forme ...

emphasized to the Yemeni government the importance of capturing the fugitives and offered assistance if requested. Speaking at a press conference on 9 February, Homeland Security Advisor

Frances Townsend Frances M. "Fran" Fragos Townsend (born December 28, 1961) is an American lawyer and business executive who served as Homeland Security Advisor to United States President George W. Bush from 2004 to 2007, and was formerly the executive vice pr ...

said:

I find the developments in Yemen not only deeply disappointing, but of enormous concern to us, especially given the capabilities and the expertise of the people who were there. We are disappointed that they were all housed together. We are disappointed that their restrictions in prison weren't more stringent. We have spoken with our colleagues in Yemen through our ambassador and expressed this to them and asked them for the strongest and most transparent cooperation so that we can help them.

Several former US officials suspected that the escape was facilitated in some way by elements within the Yemeni government. Suspicion fell particularly on the PSO due to its history of unreliability as well as the fact that it had assisted hundreds of Yemenis in joining the

Afghan mujahideen The Afghan ''mujahideen'' (; ; ) were Islamist militant groups that fought against the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan and the Soviet Union during the Soviet–Afghan War and the subsequent Afghan Civil War (1989–1992), First Afghan Ci ...

and absorbed many former jihadists after the

Soviet–Afghan War The Soviet–Afghan War took place in the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan from December 1979 to February 1989. Marking the beginning of the 46-year-long Afghan conflict, it saw the Soviet Union and the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic o ...

, potentially compromising it with internal al-Qaeda sympathizers. An anonymous US official described a cable from the US embassy in Sanaa which noted "the lack of obvious security measures on the streets" and concluded that "PSO insiders must have been involved." A European counterterrorism official called the escape "impossible ... without any involvement of prisons guards, prison administration, etc."

Aftermath

The escapees mostly dispersed throughout the tribal areas of southern and eastern Yemen. Security personnel set up checkpoints around Sanaa in an attempt to capture the fugitives before they could flee to mountainous areas where they could receive tribal protection. The Yemeni government launched searches in

Abyan Governorate Abyan ( ) is a governorates of Yemen, governorate of Yemen. The Abyan region was historically part of the Fadhli Sultanate. It was a base to the Aden-Abyan Islamic Army militant group. Its Capital (political), capital is the city of Zinjibar. ...

, as well as in Sanaa and several other areas in the country perceived as strongholds of Islamic extremist groups. On 5 February,

Interpol The International Criminal Police Organization – INTERPOL (abbreviated as ICPO–INTERPOL), commonly known as Interpol ( , ; stylized in allcaps), is an international organization that facilitates worldwide police cooperation and crime cont ...

issued an alert for the 23 escapees, calling them a "clear and present danger to all countries" and urging the Yemeni government to provide the names, photos and fingerprints of the individuals. The organization later stated that they had not issued their highest level

notice Notice is the legal concept describing a requirement that a party be aware of legal process affecting their rights, obligations or duties. There are several types of notice: public notice (or legal notice), actual notice, constructive notice. ...

as it was still waiting for Yemen to provide fingerprints and arrest warrants for the fugitives. The US Navy issued a statement on 9 February saying that their ships, as part of the

Dutch Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands ** Dutch people as an ethnic group () ** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship () ** Dutch language () * In specific terms, i ...

-led multinational

Combined Task Force 150 Combined Task Force 150 (CTF-150) is a multinational coalition naval task force working under the 34-nation coalition of Combined Maritime Forces and is based in Bahrain established to monitor, board, inspect, and stop suspect shipping to purs ...

, were "monitoring international waters along the coast of Yemen in an attempt to either block possible maritime escape routes or capture the suspected terrorists if they make this attempt." On 14 February, the Yemeni Interior Ministry announced a

YER A yer is either of two letters in Cyrillic alphabets, ъ (ѥръ, ''jerŭ'') and ь (ѥрь, ''jerĭ''). The Glagolitic alphabet used, as respective counterparts, the letters (Ⱏ) and (Ⱐ). They originally represented phonemically the "u ...

5 million reward ($25,600) for information leading to the capture of any of the prisoners, and an anonymous phone line for those who wanted to provide tip-offs. Yemeni television also aired the mugshots of the 23 escapees. Authorities distributed photos and information on the suspects to all cities, villages and districts in all Yemeni governorates. On 23 February, the

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...

added Badawi and Elbanah to its Most Wanted Terrorists list, while Abdullah al-Raymi was added to the Seeking Information – Terrorism list. After the escape, a split eventually materialized between the older and younger generations of the escapees. The older generation managed to cut deals with the Yemeni government allowing them freedom if they agreed not to conduct any attacks within Yemen. This was the case with the capture of Badawi in October 2007. Badawi pledged loyalty to the Yemeni President and agreed to help track down five other escaped militants in return for being freed from captivity. The younger generation on the other hand rejected negotiations with the Yemeni government and continued fighting against it and evading captivity. By late 2007, six of the 23 fugitives were dead (one being killed in Somalia after turning himself in and being released), 11 were in the custody of authorities and 6 were free, including Badawi. By 2010, only four escapees, Umda, Wuhayshi, Badawi and Qasim al-Raymi, were still free. They would eventually be killed by US drone strikes in 2012, 2015, 2019 and 2020, respectively.

Impact

The escape is widely seen as a turning point in al-Qaeda's insurgency in Yemen, and the origin of its contemporary organization in the country,

. Among the 23 escapees, the US concentrated heavily on the capture of Badawi and Elbanah as they were on the FBI's most wanted list. However, the two who would make the largest impact would be Wuhayshi and Qasim al-Raymi. Wuhayshi, who studied

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

and was a close ally of

Osama bin Laden Osama bin Laden (10 March 19572 May 2011) was a militant leader who was the founder and first general emir of al-Qaeda. Ideologically a pan-Islamist, Bin Laden participated in the Afghan ''mujahideen'' against the Soviet Union, and support ...

in Afghanistan, became a spiritual leader for the fugitives while they were imprisoned, while Raymi lead prayers for the group, gave religious sermons on Fridays, and negotiated with the prison's administration. Wuhayshi, Raymi and the militants who followed them have been referred to as the "second generation" of al-Qaeda in Yemen. In the aftermath of the escape, Wuhayshi became the leader of al-Qaeda in Yemen, being declared so in an announcement in mid-2007. Along with Raymi, who was appointed as military commander, the two reorganized and rebuild the group throughout 2007 and 2008. Al-Qaeda in Yemen launched increasingly deadlier attacks in the aftermath of the escape, such as pair of suicide attacks on two oil facilities in September 2006, a car bombing in Marib in 2007 and an attack on the US embassy in Sanaa in 2008. Wuhayshi and Raymi would be among the founding members of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula in January 2009. Under Wuhayshi's leadership from 2009 to 2015, the group would come to be known as al-Qaeda's strongest affiliate, Wuhayshi himself being identified as the second highest-ranking leader of al-Qaeda entirely. After his death from a US drone strike, Raymi succeeded him as leader from 2015 until his own death from a drone strike in 2020.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Prison escape Crime in Yemen Law of Yemen 2006 crimes in Yemen National security in Yemen

Yemen Yemen, officially the Republic of Yemen, is a country in West Asia. Located in South Arabia, southern Arabia, it borders Saudi Arabia to Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, the north, Oman to Oman–Yemen border, the northeast, the south-eastern part ...