You have commented 339 times on Rantburg.

Your Name
Your e-mail (optional)
Website (optional)
My Original Nic        Pic-a-Nic        Sorry. Comments have been closed on this article.
Bold Italic Underline Strike Bullet Blockquote Small Big Link Squish Foto Photo
Submit your comments on this article
Arabia
Appeal case of Yemeni militants brings new confessions
2004-12-06
Yemeni militants denied to an appeals court on Saturday the main charges against them in a case involving various Al Qaeda-linked terrorist attacks since 2002, but some of the defendants did confess to ties to top terror operatives. The 15 Yemenis were convicted and sentenced August 28 to between three years and 10 years in prison, after a three-month chaotic trial. One was sentenced to death and another was sentenced in absentia. The defendants all had denied charges of plotting and executing the 2002 bombing of a French oil tanker, the 2002 attack on a helicopter carrying employees of a US oil company, the attempted assassination of the US ambassador to Yemen and the killing of a Yemeni security officer.
"Nope. Nope. Wudn't us. We wuz jes' standin' around, mindin' our own bidnid..."
On Saturday, one of the men accused of the attempted assassination, Qassem Rimi, said the group only discussed the idea of an assassination. "Such talk doesn't amount to a crime," he told the court, asking for his five-year sentence to be revoked. The two-hour hearing was held under tight security. Since the trial began, the defendants have accused authorities of not following proper procedures and of undermining their rights. Often, lawyers and prosecutors have hurled insults at each other. The prosecutors, in the opening of the appeal case, demanded tougher penalties, saying eight of the 14 men should receive the death penalty.

Fawzi Wagih, sentenced to 10 years for his role in the attack on the French oil tanker, told the court he had met with a top Al Qaeda operative who is currently in US custody and believed to be a close associate of Osama Ben Laden. Wagih said he met Abd Rahim Al Nashiri in the United Arab Emirates, and that Al Nashiri gave him $50,000 to give to another person in Yemen. The defendants had previously denied links to Nashiri.

The Saudi-born Nashiri, an alleged mastermind of the USS Cole attack, allegedly gathered money for the French tanker operation, including money to buy explosives and to buy the boat that rammed into the tanker. Nashiri, sentenced to death in the Cole bombing, is in US custody at an undisclosed location. US officials believe he is closely associated to Ben Laden and besides the Cole attack, he is also suspected of helping direct the 1998 bombings of US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. Wagih told the court that he had no idea where the money that Nashiri gave him was going. Wagih also said Saturday that he was in Mukalla, the port city in Aden where the French tanker was located, two days before the attack on it. Khaled Galoub, another defendant, acknowledged to the court that he had rented a house for an Al Qaeda operative.
Posted by:Fred

00:00