U.S. Department of State Country Reports on Terrorism 2005 - Yemen

The Republic of Yemen took action against al-Qaida and local extremists, arresting several individuals suspected of having al-Qaida ties and prosecuting the perpetrators of numerous terrorist acts. On February 26, an appeals court upheld verdicts against six al-Qaida members for their role in the October 2000 U.S.S. Cole attack in Aden that killed 17 U.S. sailors and injured 35. The original September 2004 verdict had been appealed by both the defense and the prosecution, the latter arguing that some of the sentences were too light. The appeals court upheld one death sentence against ringleader Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, who was tried in absentia. The court commuted the death sentence for Jamal al-Badawi to 15 years' imprisonment. The prosecution failed to secure harsher sentences for the other convicted al-Qaida members, whose original sentences ranged from five to ten years. On August 22, the Supreme Court upheld all six sentences.

On February 6, the Sanaa Appellate Court upheld the convictions against 15 al-Qaida members for multiple crimes: the October 2002 attack on the French tanker M/V Limburg; the murder of a Ministry of Interior officer during the November 2002 attack on an oil company helicopter; a plot to attack the Civil Aviation and Meteorology Authority; a plot to attack four foreign embassies in Sanaa; a plot to kill the U.S. Ambassador; and the forging of documents for the purpose of carrying out terrorism. The appeals court re-sentenced one defendant to death (from a 10-year sentence), awarded harsher sentences for two defendants, and upheld the remaining sentences. The case is expected to be appealed to the Supreme Court.

On April 23, the Yemeni Supreme Court upheld the 2003 death sentences of Ali Ahmed Mohamed Jarallah and Abed Abdulrazak al-Kamel for the December 2002, shootings of three American citizens in Jibla. Jarallah was executed in November. No date has been set for al-Kamel's execution.

Yemeni security forces continued to arrest and try suspected members of al-Qaida and other terrorists groups. In August, the Sanaa Primary Court convicted six al-Qaida members for planning attacks against the British and Italian Embassies and the French Cultural Center. The ringleader, Anwar al-Jilani, received a four-year sentence, with the remaining five defendants receiving sentences ranging from two years to 40 months.

In June, the Sanaa Appellate Court found 11 alleged al-Qaida suspects not guilty of planning attacks on undisclosed targets in Yemen and abroad. The prosecution had alleged that the defendants trained in Afghanistan and were planning to travel to Iraq to fight against U.S.-led Coalition forces.

In August, the Sanaa Primary Court began trying 34 supporters of the slain rebel Shia cleric Hussein Al-Houthi for planning terrorist attacks against Yemeni military sites and the U.S. Ambassador. In December, the Sanaa court also began trying two individuals, Hizam al-Mass and Khalid al-Halilah, for a 2004 plot to assassinate the U.S. Ambassador.

Yemen used its Islamic Dialogue Committee, headed by a leading judge, to continue its dialogue with detainees arrested for connections to terrorist groups and extremist elements. The government releases detainees it considers to be rehabilitated after they pledge to uphold the Yemeni constitution and laws, the rights of non-Muslims, and the inviolability of foreign interests. No comprehensive program exists to monitor recidivism rates. An undisclosed number of released detainees from previous years reportedly have traveled to Iraq to participate in attacks against Coalition forces.

The government's capacity for stemming terrorism financing remains limited. In 2004, the UN 1267 Sanctions Committee designated prominent Yemeni Sheikh Abd al-Majid al-Zindani for his association with al-Qaida. The Yemeni Government took no action to bar his travel or freeze his assets in compliance with its UN obligations. In December, al-Zindani accompanied President Saleh to an Organization of the Islamic Conference meeting in Saudi Arabia.