Yemen court upholds death sentences in al-Qaida strikes on US embassy, tourists, official says

Yemen upholds death sentences in US Embassy attack

SAN’A, Yemen — A Yemeni appeals court upheld on Sunday the death sentences against four al-Qaida militants in deadly attacks that included the assault on the U.S. Embassy and the killing of two Belgian tourists in 2008, a court official said.

The four were convicted last year as part of an al-Qaida cell behind the March 2008 attack on the embassy that killed a school guard in an adjacent building. The men were also convicted of killing two Belgian women tourists in January 2008.

The official said the appeals court on Sunday overturned the death sentences of two other militants from the same cell who were convicted of attacks on police in southern Hadramut province, and sentenced them to 12 years each instead.

Yemen, an impoverished country on the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula and the ancestral homeland of Osama bin Laden, has struggled to confront a growing al-Qaida presence.

The al-Qaida affiliate in Yemen got a boost in 2009, when the organization merged with the Saudi branch and dramatically increased the pace of its attacks. Militants are believed to have built up strongholds in remote parts of the country, allying with powerful tribes that resent the government of President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

Besides the cases of the six militants, the court in San’a on Sunday also upheld sentences of up to 15 years imprisonment against 10 other militants, including four Syrians and a Saudi man, for masterminding the attacks. The cell was also accused of waging successive attacks on police and oil installations.

The court official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.

As the court pronounced its rulings, the militants chanted “Allahu Akbar,” or “God is great,” and pledged allegiance to bin Laden. During their initial trial last year, they had also shouted insults at the judge and chanted Islamic slogans.

Most of the 16 militants were arrested in August 2008 following a fierce gunbattle between al-Qaida and Yemeni security forces in Hadramut. Police confiscated explosives, rocket propelled grenades and other weapons found inside their homes.

Also Sunday, the Interior Ministry said in a statement that police in Hadramut had arrested 10 militants suspected of being al-Qaida members.

The moves come even as the local al-Qaida branch took credit for a brazen attack on the intelligence headquarters in Yemen’s second largest city in June.

The group said in a statement posted on jihadist websites that the Aden attack was in retaliation for the government’s “brutal aggression” against the people.

The statement said 24 people were killed in the attack, while the government said at the time 11 had died.

Al-Qaida made no mention of freeing any detainees as witnesses at the time had described seeing.

The June 19 attack was considered as one of the group’s most spectacular operations to date.