An appeals court in Yemen on Saturday acquitted 19 people suspected of being members of Al Qaeda on charges of conspiring to commit terrorism; six were convicted on lesser charges of possessing forged documents. The defendants, including five Saudis, had been charged with plotting attacks against United States interests in Yemen on behalf of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the former terrorist leader in Iraq who was killed in June. The state security court acquitted the men in June, but the Yemeni prosecutor challenged the courtÂ’s verdict on appeal. The presiding appeals court judge said Saturday that there was insufficient proof that the men collectively made up an armed unit, quashing the basis of the case. However, he found six of the men, including one Saudi, guilty of possessing forged passports and other official documents. Two of the men, both Yemeni, were sentenced to three-year terms, and the rest were sentenced to time served and were released.
| Membership in Al Qaeda is technically not illegal, while involvement in IraqÂ’s insurgency is seen as outside the jurisdiction of the courts. |
Militants in Yemen may only be charged with crimes committed there. Membership in Al Qaeda is technically not illegal, while involvement in IraqÂ’s insurgency is seen as outside the jurisdiction of the courts.