A court Wednesday convicted 34 men of plotting attacks across Yemen, including one aimed at the U.S. Embassy, and it sentenced the leader of the Shiite rebel group to death. The group‘s leader, Ibrahim Mohammed Sharafeldeen, was convicted and sentenced to death for forming a terror cell aimed at "disturbing security and weakening the security forces." Chief judge Najeeb Qaderi of Yemen‘s state security court sentenced 25 others in the case to prison sentences ranging between three to 10 years. Eight other defendants were convicted but released because of time served. After the sentences were pronounced, the defendants began kissing each other on the cheeks and shouting "
The defendants were captured in early 2005 in one of the capital‘s suburbs and security forces found weapons, ammunition and rockets with their possessions, along with recordings of al-Hawthi. Al-Hawthi‘s followers alleged that the government persecuted him for his outspokenness against corruption and Yemen‘s pro-American policies. The government said al-Hawthi‘s death would end the clashes but fighting has continued.