SANAA, 16 September 2004 — The trial of six Yemenis charged with the October 2000 attack on the US Navy ship USS Cole ended yesterday with the court saying it would deliver verdicts on Sept. 29.
The Sanaa counterterrorism court held yesterday its final hearing into the case, during which it listened to concluding statements by prosecutors and defense lawyers.
In their statements, two prosecutors asked the court to hand down the death penalty to four of the men who are accused of forming an armed band and killing 17 US sailors.
They asked the court to sentence to seven years in prison the two other suspects — policemen charged with helping the main suspects to get forged ID documents. Five of the suspects were present in the court during the trial, while the alleged mastermind of the attack, Abdul-Raheem Al-Nashri, alias Mulla Bilal, was being tried in absentia. Al-Nashri was arrested in the UAE in November 2002 and handed over to the US.
The defendants pleaded not guilty during yesterday’s hearing when the court’s chief judge Najeeb Al-Qadri asked them about the charges against them. It was the first time for the five suspects to enter pleas since the trial began on July 7.
Prosecutors said two suicide bombers, identified as Ibrahim Al-Thour and Hassan Al-Khamri, carried out the attack.
