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| Anwar al-Awlaki charged in Yemen with crimes against foreigners |
| 2010-11-02 |
| Yemen, under pressure to crack down on militants operating there after a foiled bomb plot involving US-bound parcels, began the trial in absentia on Tuesday of the radical US-born preacher, wanted dead or alive by Washington. Anwar al-Awlaki, who has been linked to a failed bombing of a US-bound plane in December 2009 that was claimed by Yemen's al Qaeda wing, is thought to be hiding in southern Yemen. Also on Tuesday, the trial of a Yemeni journalist and al-Qaeda expert was set to continue in Sanaa. Abdulelah Shai is being tried for alleged links to al-Qaeda, including helping to publicise the views of Anwar al-Awlaki. Awlaqi, who holds both Yemeni and US citizenship, and his relative, Othman al-Awlaqi, were both charged in absentia in a Yemeni court with "incitement to kill foreigners and members of security services." The charges arose during the trial of Hisham Mohammed Assem, a Yemeni, who was in the court on Tuesday to face charges of killing French energy contractor Jacques Spagnolo near Sanaa last month. The court action comes as Yemen is in the spotlight after parcel bombs to the United States were traced to the ancestral homeland of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. The US Treasury has blacklisted Awlaki as a "specially designated global terrorist", a move that freezes any assets he may have under US jurisdiction. Earlier this year, the United States authorised the CIA to capture or kill him. Awlaki has also been linked to an army major who went on a shooting spree that killed 13 people last year at Fort Hood in Texas. |
| Posted by:tipper |