Yemeni Arrested for Spying for Israel

A Yemeni man has been arrested on charges of spying for Israel and will be tried this week, the defense ministry said on Friday.

"Abraham al-Dharrahi, a 24-year-old Yemeni IT worker, will be tried in the next two days in Yemen's criminal court on charges of espionage for Israel's Mossad intelligence agency," the ministry quoted a judicial source as saying.

A statement on the defense ministry website said Dharrahi had been arrested in Taiz, south of the capital Sanaa, and was transferred to the southern city of Aden last week. It gave no date for his arrest.

Dharrahi's name suggests he belongs to Yemen's small Jewish minority community, most of whom have left for Israel over the past few decades.

He "admitted to his collaboration with the Mossad, that he traveled to several countries including Israel, and was recruited by the Mossad to relay secret intelligence about the situation in Yemen," the statement added.