 An escaped Al-Qaeda fighter who took part in the bombing of the US Navy destroyer Cole in 2000 is back in jail in Aden, a Yemeni police official said Tuesday. The whereabouts of Jamal al-Badawi prompted Washington to withdraw an aid package for Yemen earlier this week following reports that he had been allowed to return to his home after turning himself in. "Jamal al-Badawi is being held by state security in Aden. He is currently in a cell of a prison belonging to the state security service in Aden," the official told AFP.
| "A comfy cell, but a cell nonetheless." |
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, refused to provide other details of Badawi's detention.
"Yer honor! Yer honor! Does the cell have air conditioning?"
"I can say no more!" |
Badawi was sentenced to death for the bombing of the Cole off Aden but escaped from prison in the Yemeni capital in 2006, along with 22 other Al-Quaeda militants.
| Do you kinda get the idea they don't want to shoot him or stretch his neck? |
Earlier this month, Badawi turned himself in and, according to witnesses, was allowed to return to his home in Aden in return for a pledge not to engage in any violent or Al-Qaeda-related activity.
"Honey, I'm home!"
"You're not gonna engage in any more violent or al-Qaeda related activity, are you, Dear?"
"Cert'ny not! I gave my word!"
"I'll get dinner!"
"Let's call out for Chinese!"
"Whoa, big boy! Is that a revolver in yer pocket, or are you happy to see me?"
"It's a revolver. Order me General Tso's chicken." |
The United States had linked an aid package for Yemen to Badawi's imprisonment.
"Y'see this? This is money!"
"Umm... We don't see nuttin'!"
"Bingo!" |
The October 31 signing of a 20.6 million dollar US aid agreement with Yemen has been "postponed until further notice," and no decision will be taken "until we can ascertain whether or not (Badawi) has been released," said a spokesman for the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA) development programme.
| This is known in diplomatic circles as a "snarl." |
Yemen is the ancestral homeland of Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden.
| It's the ancestral homeland of the Queen of Sheba and, if memory serves, Philip the Arab, but none of that has anything to do with this story. |
Washington on Monday admitted to being in the dark about Badawi's fate. "I can't say that we have a firm understanding of exactly what the situation is with respect to this individual," US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters.
| "They weren't telling us anything until the money went away. That tells us lots." |
After the Cole bombing that killed 17 US sailors Badawi was featured on a US list of most-wanted terrorists with a five-million-dollar bounty on his head. He was sentenced to death in Yemen in September 2004 for his part in the bombing, which was claimed by Al-Qaeda, but an appeals court later commuted the sentence to 15 years in jail.
| Or until he "escaped," whichever came first. |
|