SANAA, 30 September 2004 — A Yemeni court sentenced two Al-Qaeda supporters to death yesterday and handed down prison terms of five to ten years to four others for the October 2000 suicide attack on the US destroyer USS Cole off the southern Yemeni coast.
The two masterminds of the attack, Jamal Muhammad Al-Badawi and Abdul-Raheem Al-Nashri, were given the death sentence by a special counterterrorism court in Sanaa. Al-Nashri is in US custody and was tried in absentia.
Two suicide bombers, identified as Ibrahim Al-Thour and Hassan Al-Khamri rammed an explosives-laden boat into the US warship shortly after it entered the southern Yemen harbor of Aden for refueling on Oct. 12, 2000.
The dinghy was loaded with more than 200 kilos of explosives that made a powerful explosion punching a big hole in the hull of the guided missile navy ship. Seventeen sailors aboard the vessel were killed and 33 were injured.
Two other convicts were found guilty of taking part in planning the attack and were given prison terms. Fahd Muhammad Al-Qasaa received a jail sentence of 10 years and Maamoun Ahmad Onswa eight years.
Police officers Ali Muhammad Al-Muraqib and Murad Salih Al-Sorwri got 5-year prison terms for their role in providing the other convicts with forged ID documents.
The public prosecution had accused the six men of forming an armed band to carry out terrorist acts, endangering state security and society’s stability, and harming the country’s highest interests.
Shortly after the verdicts were delivered, Jamal Al-Badawi angrily shouted at the chief judge Najeeb Al-Qadri: “This is an unjust verdict. You and the prosecution have just proved that you are agents for the Americans.”
“You are our enemies, the enemies of Islam and the Muslim youth,” he screamed as he sat on a wheelchair with his leg in a cast. He was injured during a police chase last year.
