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| Arabia |
| Trial of al-Qaeda leader in Yemen ends |
| 2006-04-19 |
| A Yemeni state security court wrapped up on Tuesday the trial of the suspected second-in-command of the terror al-Qaeda network in Yemen and set April 26 for pronouncing the verdict. Mohammad Hamdi al-Ahdal, 35, has been charged with financing attacks against Western targets in Yemen. Prosecutors have told the court that al-Ahdal had received up to 50,000 dollars from al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden to finance the networks operations in Yemen and to give aid for families of detained members of the group. They said he had received around 150, 000 dollars from a fellow al-Qaeda man identified as Saudi national Abu-Omar al-Usaimi. At Tuesday's final hearing, al-Ahdal rejected the charge of financing attacks in Yemen. But he admitted to having aided families of Islamic militants held in custody of US or Yemeni authorities. 'Yes, I have been giving financial aid to families of Mujahedeen (holy warriors), and I'm happy for doing that,' al-Ahdal said. He further said that American and Saudi investigators had interrogated him during his detention in a Sana'a jail. Yemeni authorities believe that al-Ahdal, who was arrested in 2003, was the deputy of Ali Qaed Sinan al-Harthi, alias Abu Ali al- Harthi, who was killed in a November 2002 CIA missile attack on his car in eastern Yemen. Harthi has been described by Yemeni officials as the top al-Qaeda local leader in Yemen. Officials have said that al-Ahdal was believed to be the financier of the October 12, 2000 suicide attack on the US navy destroyer USS Cole in Yemens southern harbour of Aden, which killed 17 American sailors. This charge, however, was not mentioned in the charges sheet read out in the courtroom when the trial began on February 13. Contrary to previous reports that al-Ahdal had lost a leg fighting in Chechnya, he appeared looking healthy and with all his limbs. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |