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| Arabia |
| Yemen demands quick release of two nationals cleared by US appeals court |
| 2008-10-06 |
| Yemeni Foreign Minister Abu Bakr al-Kurbi called on Saturday for the immediate release of two nationals whose convictions on terrorism charges have been overturned by a US federal appeals court. The minister said that his government would "continue its efforts to secure the release, at the earliest opportunity" of the two Yemenis whose convictions for Al-Qaeda membership were quashed on Thursday. The Second United States Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the convictions of Sheikh Mohammad Ali al-Moayad and Mohammad Zayed, who had been sentenced to 75 and 45 years in jail respectively. After the ruling, the two - who were arrested in Germany in 2003 and extradited to the US for trial- were put under the jurisdiction of another judge and could be retried at a later date. The appeals court said that the convictions against Moayad, 60, and Zayed, 34, for giving financial support to Al-Qaeda and Hamas were based on "highly inflammatory and irrelevant" testimony from third parties who had unfairly influenced the jury. |
| Posted by:Fred |