SANAA, 19 August 2004 — Lawyers defending six men charged with bombing the US destroyer USS Cole off Yemen’s coast four years ago disputed yesterday evidence presented by the prosecution in the case.

The two lawyers, Abdul Aziz Al-Samawi and Muhammad Al-Ezzani, asked a Sanaa counter-terrorism court to examine thoroughly all materials presented as evidence against the defendants.

The first evidence to be challenged during yesterday’s hearing was a document stating the ownership of the boat that prosecutors say was used in the October 2000 attack on the US Navy ship in the southern Yemeni port of Aden.

Prosecutors said the boat belonged to Jamal Muhammad Al-Badawi, the second main suspect in the attack that killed 17 US sailors aboard the vessel and injured 33 others.

They said that Al-Badawi had bought the boat from the southern Saudi province of Jizan in early 1999 and brought it to Aden through the western Yemeni port city of Houdieda.

Al-Samawi asked chief prosecutor Saeed Al-Aqil to provide “reliable proof” that the boat stated in the document was the one used in the bombing.

“Why would somebody risk bringing a boat from Saudi Arabia to use it in such a big attack when there is a boat factory in Aden,” Al-Samawi asked.

He said the prosecution failed to present evidence tracing the boat and explosives used in the bombing to his clients.

He also said that a video camera the prosecution said was used to film the attack was not advanced enough to film the incident, considering the distance between the house the alleged bombers used as a hideout and the location of the USS Cole. He also cited lack of a tape of the bombing as a further flaw in the prosecution’s evidence.

Also challenged by the defense lawyers were lease contracts for four safe houses in Aden, which prosecutors said were used by the suspects to prepare the dinghy and monitor the harbor.

Lawyer Al-Ezzani said the contracts could not support the prosecution’s claim, because they did not bear any of the suspects’ names.

Al-Samawi questioned the prosecution’s insistence on trying in absentia Abd Al-Rahim Al-Nashiri, the sixth defendant and the alleged mastermind of the attack.

Al-Nashiri is in US custody at an undisclosed place. Yemeni officials have said they have asked the United States to hand him over. “This insistence is aimed at making my clients scapegoats in this case,” he said.

The prosecutor, Al-Aqil, challenged Al-Samawi’s claim that the Yemeni government was aware that Al-Nashiri was in US custody and that authorities have asked for his extradition.

“This is not true. We have no official documents confirming that he is in US custody,” Al-Aqil said, adding that he was not aware of any official request sent to the Americans to extradite Al-Nashiri to Yemen.

Al-Nashri, alias Mulla Bilal, was arrested in the United Arab Emirates in November 2002 and handed over to the US. He was described at the time as Al-Qaeda’s chief of operations in the Arabian Gulf.

The six men were accused of forming an armed band to carry out terrorist acts, endangering state security and society’s stability, and harming the country’s highest interests.

If convicted, the men could be sentenced to death, though such a punishment is considered unlikely because the defendants are not accused of being the actual bombers.

Prosecutors said two suicide bombers, identified as Ibrahim Al-Thour, alias Al-Nibras, and Hassan Al-Khamri carried out the attack. The two men allegedly drove the dinghy laden with more than 200 kilograms of explosives and rammed it into the US destroyer as it stopped at Aden port for refueling.

Chief Judge Najeeb Al-Qadri set Aug. 25 for final arguments in the trial.

— Additional input from agencies