The eight suspected al-Qaida members told the court on the opening day of their trial Monday that they had planned to attack the British and Italian embassies and the French Cultural Center in the Yemeni capital and that they received money and instructions from al-Qaida operatives in Saudi Arabia. They face five to 10 yeas in jail if convicted. The suspects, including five Yemenis, Iraqi-born Swiss national Anwar Bayan Sadiq al-Gaylani and Syrians Omran Mohammed Said and Majid Omar Nizan, were detained during recent months in a crackdown on terrorism by Yemeni authorities.
| I notice a lot more Syrians popping up these days |
In the other case, six Yemeni al-Qaida members were each sentenced to two years in jail for planning attacks against Westerners here and in Saudi Arabia, Syria, and Iraq. The men are expected to be released soon; they've been in custody since 2003. Five suspects were acquitted. Two of the men were detained in Yemen while the nine others were extradited from Iran, Saudi Arabia and Syria. The defendants denied charges of planning terror attacks and forming an armed gang but admitted to using forged documents that Yemeni authorities said were to be used for traveling to Iraq to fight U.S.-led forces.