Death sentence in Yemen terror case
A Sanaa court has sentenced one Yemeni to death and imprisoned 14 others for a range of terrorism-related charges, including the bombing of a French oil tanker and a plot to kill the US ambassador.
The death sentence was handed down on Saturday to Hazam Majali, convicted of killing a Yemeni police officer at a checkpoint in 2002.
Five others face ten years in prison for participating in the October 2002 bombing of the Limburg oil tanker, which killed one Bulgarian crew member and spilled 90,000 barrels of oil into the Gulf of Aden.
They are Umar Said Jar Allah, Fawzi al-Ahhabi, Muhammad al-Amari, Fawzi al-Wajih and Yasir Salim (tried in absentia), Aljazeera’s correspondent reported.
Oil firm target
The court has also sentenced two others, Fawaz and Abu Bakr al-Rubai, to ten years on charges related to an attack on a helicopter carrying Hunt Oil Company employees a month later and for detonating explosives at a civil aviation authority building.
Al-Rubaai also was fined 18 million Yemeni riyals ($100,000) to compensate for the building damage.
Five other Yemenis were sentenced to five years on charges of planning to bomb embassies and plotting to kill US Ambassador Edmund Hull, as well as security officials.
They are Ibrahim Huwaidi, Arif Majalli, Muhammad Ali al-Dailami, Abd Al-Ghani Tayfan and Qasim al-Raili.
Two others, Salim al-Dulaimi and Khalid al-Jalub, were both sentenced to three years over charges of falsifying documents related to various attacks, the correspondent said.
‘Politically motivated’
Defendants, whose attorneys boycotted a process they maintained was not fair and were not present for the verdict and sentencing, frequently interrupted Ahmad al-Jarmuzi’s remarks.
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Defence lawyers insist the legal |
“Fear God!” they shouted, and “Lies!” as they complained that the process was illegal.
The defendants, some who have suspected ties to Usama bin Ladin’s al-Qaida network, have rejected the court’s legitimacy, but have said they will appeal its verdict.
The father of one of the defendants said he considered the convictions and sentences politically motivated.
“These are illegal sentences because the lawyers were not given the chance to defend them,” he said.