Yemeni terrorism trial nets 15 convictions

SAN’A, Yemen – A chaotic three-month trial ended Saturday with 15 militants convicted for roles in terror attacks on a French oil tanker and a helicopter carrying U.S. oil workers, as well as plots to kill the American ambassador and Yemeni security officials.

The court sentenced one man – convicted of killing a Yemeni police officer – to death and the others from three to 10 years in jail. One man was tried in absentia.

“There is no God but God, America is the enemy of God, Osama is beloved by God,” the defendants chanted from their court cells, referring to Osama bin Laden. Some of the men are believed to be linked to bin Laden’s al Qaeda terror network.

“They want us to nullify our pact with Osama, by God, that will never happen,” Fawaz al-Rabeiee, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison, cried before a courtroom packed with defendants’ relatives, journalists and security. Outside, sharpshooters were posted on nearby rooftops. Several armored vehicles and machine gun-mounted military jeeps surrounded the court and blocked streets.

The trial, which began May 29, centered on the October 2002 bombing of the French oil tanker Limburg off the Yemeni coast. Two suicide bombers rammed an explosive-laden boat into the vessel, killing a Bulgarian crew member and spilling 90,000 barrels of oil into the Gulf of Aden – an operation very similar to the attack of the coast of Yemen on the American destroyer USS Cole two years earlier.

Since the trial began, the defendants have accused authorities of not following proper procedures and undermining their rights. Often, lawyers and prosecutors hurled insults at each other and the defense team repeatedly walked out of the courtroom in protest.

The defendants vowed to appeal their verdicts and sentences.

Judge Ahmed al-Jarmouzi sentenced six defendants to 10 years in prison for participating in the Limburg bombing.