Yemen Accuses Computer Engineer of Spying for Mossad

A computer engineer has been arrested in Yemen on charges of spying for Israel and will soon face trial in the southern city of Aden.

The suspect, who has two names, Abdullah Muhsan al-Himi al-Siari and Abraham al-Deri, was detained three weeks ago according to the Defence Ministry's official newspaper, September26.

Following an investigation by the criminal prosecutor, he was charged with being an agent working for Mossad. It is the first time an Israeli citizen has been arrested in Yemen.

In 2009, a court sentenced a local man to death after he was convicted of spying for Israel.

"The man carried two ID cards - one Yemeni, one Israeli," a security official in Aden told Reuters anonymously.

In another development, the London-based Arab newspaper Al-Sharq Al-Awsat reported that Yemen's navy has detained an Iranian ship which attempted to deliver weapons to the country's Shiite rebels.

A Yemeni coast guard official told the paper that the vessel managed to unload some of its cargo before it was seized. A great variety of weapons were found on board.

Shiite Houthi rebels are based in northern Yemen, and the country's officials accuse Iran of providing the group with weapons via the Medi port in the Red Sea.

Yemen has claimed it has intercepted Iranian arms shipments to the rebels before.