Aden - Distraught relatives and friends of five Britons facing terrorism charges in Yemen allege confessions were extracted under torture and yesterday urged London to intervene to stop a "travesty of justice". "In their anxiety to have a swift trial, the Yemeni authorities are in fact organising a kangaroo court where the defendants have no chance to answer or refute the prosecution allegations," they said in a letter to the Foreign Secretary, Mr Robin Cook.
A British lawyer, Mr Michael McColgan, saw the men for the first time on Wednesday, the opening day of their trial on charges of plotting to carry out a string of bombing attacks on the southern city of Aden. All pleaded not guilty.