A Yemeni journalist and expert on al- Qaida issues was sentenced to five years in prison on Tuesday on charges of having links with the terrorist group and U.S.-wanted cleric Anwar al-Awlaki.

Abdulelah Haidar Shaiee, 34, serves as a journalist with the Yemen’s state-run Saba News Agency, and also a freelancer for other international media, including the Qatar-based satellite TV channel Aljazeera.

He reportedly conducted several exclusive interviews with top leaders of the al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), such as Naser al-Wiheshi and the U.S.-wanted Yemeni-American fugitive radical imam Anwar al-Awlaqi.

“The court also convicted Shaiee of publishing false news on the Yemen’s security situation through the media, as well as recruiting foreigners for al-Qaida and gathered information on embassies and security facilities to help the militant group,” judge Radwan al-Namar said.

The court ordered Shaiee to be put under police surveillance for two years after his release from the intelligence prison.

Shaiee was arrested on Aug. 16, 2010 over suspicion of having links with AQAP.

His arrest came after the Aljazeera TV hosted him to talk about the latest security development in Yemen.

After hearing the court’s rule, Shaiee said “this is a plot against me from those officials, whose lies were revealed by WikiLeaks documents.”

Meanwhile, the security court handed down two-year imprisonment term against Abdulkarim al-Shami, a friend of Shaiee for participating along with Shaiee in an armed gang.

“This is not a court decision, but a severe political decision lacking for the most basic principle of fair trial,” Abdul Rahman Barman, a lawyer of the Sanaa-based human right group Hood, told Xinhua.

Khaled Haidar Shaiee, the brother of the Yemeni journalist, told Xinhua that his brother Abdulelah is innocent.

“This is an injustice. And there must be a storm similar to the Tunisian revolution against such injustice. A Tunis-like revolution is approaching Yemen,” the brother of Abdulelah said.

Meanwhile, the Journalists Syndicate Committee in the official Saba news agency issued on Tuesday a statement, condemning the court’s decision against journalist Shaiee.

“We expressed deep regret for the court’s unfair verdict against our colleague Abdulelah Haidar Shaiee,” it said in the statement obtained by Xinhua.