SANAA, 8 November 2007 — A Yemeni state security court yesterday handed down jail sentences from two to 15 years to 32 Yemeni men convicted of plotting terror attacks, including two car bombs on oil facilities, last year.
The convicts included the Al-Qaeda leader in Yemen Nasser Al-Wuhaishi, and the group’s second-in-command Qassim Al-Raimi. Both received 15-year jail terms for planning two car bomb attacks on two oil facilities in the southeastern province of Hadhramout and the northeastern province of Marib.
The September 2006 attacks, with four pick-up trucks, left four attackers and a security guard dead. Four other Al-Qaeda members received prison sentences of 10-15 years for their role in preparing for the two bombings.
Al-Raimi and Al-Wuhaishi are the suspected masterminds of the July 2 suicide car bombing in Marib that killed eight Spanish tourists and four Yemenis.
The six men were among a group of 23 suspected Al-Qaeda members who escaped from a high-security jail in Sanaa on Feb. 3, 2006. Most of the escapees have since surrendered to authorities or been killed in encounters with police during operations. The court acquitted four defendants for lack of evidence. Among them was Hussein Al-Dharhani, a bodyguard of the opposition candidate Faisal bin Shamlan. Shamlan ran in the presidential elections that were held in last September.
Al-Dharhani, whose arrest two days ahead of the voting day was blasted by opposition leaders as a political ploy, was charged with giving shelter to four of the suspects. Presiding Judge Radhwan Al-Namir said the court found the charge against Al-Dharhani “was not compatible with the charge on which he was arrested.”
Thirty other convicts got prison terms of two to eight years for lesser roles in the plots. Prosecutors have told the court the men had prepared explosives, firearms, vehicles and masks for use in the September 2006 attacks.
They said 36 defendants had provided the attackers with logistic support. They further said the suspects also involved in planning bomb attacks in mid-2006 against a hotel in Sanaa frequented by foreigners and an apartment compound housing American diplomats as well as the building of Yemeni Businessmen Board.
Prosecutors attending the verdict session said they would appeal the sentences. “These penalties do not correspond to the crimes they (convicts) committed,” prosecutor Khaled Al-Mawri told the court shortly after the ruling was pronounced.
When the trial began last March, 13 of the defendants were brought to the court. Six others were tried in absentia. All the present defendants had pleaded not guilty and ten of them said they had made confessions under duress during police interrogation.
