Yemeni Lawmaker Sues U.S. Soldiers In San Diego For Alleged Assassination Attempt

SAN DIEGO, CA — A Yemeni politician has filed a federal lawsuit in San Diego against three former U.S. military members he alleges were hired by the United Arab Emirates to kill him.

Anssaf Ali Mayo, a member of Yemen's parliament, alleges in a recently unsealed lawsuit that the three ex-military members gathered in San Diego in 2015 in order to plan his assassination.

The men -- identified in the lawsuit as Abraham Golan, Isaac Gilmore and Dale Comstock -- were part of a private military company called Spear Operations Group that allegedly carried out "targeted extrajudicial killings," according to the complaint, and were paid $1.5 million per month by the UAE to carry out such operations.

Those allegedly included a December 2015 attempt on Ali Mayo's life in which a bomb was detonated at his political party's headquarters. However, Ali Mayo had left the building minutes before the explosion and has been living in exile in Saudi Arabia ever since, according to the Center for Justice & Accountability, which filed the lawsuit on Ali Mayo's behalf. The complaint was filed under the Alien Tort Statute, which allows foreign nationals to sue over alleged violations of international law.

Ela Matthews, CJA's director of partnerships and justice initiatives, said in a statement: "Spear recruited individuals trained at the expense of U.S. taxpayers to commit war crimes in Yemen, and used their U.S. training as marketing to land a lucrative contract with the UAE -- a known human rights violator."

According to the lawsuit, Golan -- Spear's founder and CEO -- was then a San Diego County resident, as was Gilmore, a former Navy SEAL. Comstock, a former member of the U.S. Special Forces, was flown into San Diego for an in- person meeting to discuss Ali Mayo's assassination, the lawsuit states.

A 2018 BuzzFeed news article covering Spear's operations in Yemen noted the alleged attempt on Ali Mayo's life and includes quotes from Golan and Gilmore in which they admit involvement in the operation that nearly killed Ali Mayo, as well as other assassinations.

"Spear tried to assassinate me 10 years ago. I survived but have been forced to live in exile separated from my family," Ali Mayo said. "The U.S. government has a responsibility to ensure Spear and its operatives are brought to justice."

— City News Service