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Arabia |
Yemen al-Qaida trial begins |
2005-02-15 |
![]() Some of the accused denied the accusations though a number agreed to forging documents. Aged between 24 and 43, the 10 present were named as Muhammad al-Kazmi, Abd Allah al-Wadai, Mansur al-Bihani, Shafiq Ahmad Umar, Ibrahim al-Mukri, Muhammad Hatim, Saddam Ismail, Faris al-Wadai, Abd al-Rauf Nasib and Ahmad Muhammed al-Kardai. The eleventh defendant, Faris al-Nahdi did not attend the hearing, which was adjourned until 21 February. Six of the men were arrested in Saudi, two in Syria and the rest in Yemen. Yemen, which has cracked down on suspected al-Qaida members at the behest of the US, has already tried and convicted two groups over the 2000 bombing of the US navy destroyer Cole in Aden which killed 17 American sailors and the bombing of a French tanker, the Limburg, two years later. On 5 February, the appeals court in Sanaa upheld the death sentence against a Yemeni and sentenced to death another who had been jailed over the bombing of the Limburg and other attacks. The appeals court will deliver the verdict in the Cole case on 26 February. |
Posted by:Fred |