Dutch Release Yemeni Terror Suspects

Prosecutor: 'No reason to hold men any longer'

By Newser Editors and Wire Services

Posted Sep 1, 2010 11:48 AM CDT

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Dutch Release Yemeni Terror Suspects — A man is led away from a plane at Schipol Airport in Amsterdam Monday Aug. 30, 2010 in this image taken from TV. The FBI probe of two men arrested in Amsterdam after suspicious items turned up in one of the men's luggage were probably not on a test run for a future terror attack, a U.S. official said... ((AP Photo/RTL, via APTN))

Dutch prosecutors say two Yemeni men arrested Monday in Amsterdam amid fears they were conducting a dry run for an airline terror attack have been freed without charge after investigations turned up no evidence to link them to a terror plot. The prosecutor's statement today said that because of the lack of evidence "there is no reason to hold the men any longer." (Click here to read about the doubts that began surfacing yesterday.)

Under Dutch law, Ahmed Mohamed Nasser al-Soofi and Hezam al-Murisi can be held for up to three days and 15 hours before they must be brought before a judge or released. A US law enforcement official said that following FBI inquiries neither man is likely to be charged in the US. Al-Soofi's Dutch lawyer Wouter Hendrickx said al-Soofi insists he is innocent. "He says, 'I have no connections to terrorist activities whatsoever.'"
(More Yemen stories.)

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