SANAA, 27 April 2005 — An appeals court yesterday reopened the trial of 11 Al-Qaeda suspects, six of whom had been given two-year jail terms and the five others acquitted.
Said Al-Aqel for the prosecution charged that the verdict delivered by a Sanaa court on March 21 flouted the Yemeni penal code, since the defendants “confessed to forging travel documents, which is punishable by three to seven years imprisonment”.
Appeals Court President Said Al-Qataa set a session on May 3 to hear the defendants’ response.
The group had been accused of planning to carry out “criminal acts” in Yemen and abroad.
But the court last month sentenced six of them to two-year prison terms only on charges of forging passports and other documents, while clearing the five others of all charges.
The defendants, all Yemenis, went on trial on Feb. 14. The charges against them included possession of arms and explosives and forging documents and passports.
