SANAA, Jan 10: A Yemeni court began on Saturday the trial of three workers of an Islamic organisation accused of establishing contact with Israel’s Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and offering to collaborate with the Jewish state.

The three men are accused of operating under the name of Yemen’s barely-known Organisation of Islamic Jihad and spreading false news of attacks on government buildings, embassies and foreign interests in Yemen between May and September 2008.

The prosecution charged the main defendant, Bassam al-Haidari, 26, of writing directly to the prime minister of Israel by email, offering to work for the Jewish state.

“We are the Organisation of Islamic Jihad and you are Jews, but you are honest, and we are ready to do anything,” Haidari said in the email sent to Olmert, the prosecution charged.

The list of charges say that Olmert responded to Haidari, also known as Abu al-Ghaith, welcoming his offer to collaborate.

“We are ready to support you to become an obstacle in the Middle East. We will support you as an agent,” Olmert was quoted as writing back.

The group, which includes Imad al-Rimi, 23, and Ali al-Mahfal, 24, has also claimed in Internet messages signed by Abu al-Gaith that it had prepared 16 car bombs to attack governmental buildings and embassies, according to the charges.

The three defendants denied all the charges and called for a lawyer. The court agreed to their demand and adjourned the hearing to Jan 17.

Yemeni authorities rounded up six suspects in Sanaa shortly after a Sept 17 attack on the US embassy that killed 18 people.

The interior ministry said at the time that the arrested group included Abu al-Ghaith al-Yamani, who was the signatory to an Islamic Jihad’s claim of responsibility for the attack on the US mission.

Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh had later said that an “Islamist terrorist cell” with links to Israeli intelligence had been dismantled. Prosecutors said the accused had also demanded money from the embassies of Saudi Arabia and the UAE.—Agencies