Appeals trial of USS Cole attackers opens in Yemen
The first convictions in the al-Qaida attack that killed 17 American sailors were handed down in September, with four Yemenis sentenced to five to 10 years in prison. Two men - Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, a Saudi suspected of being an associate of Osama bin Laden, and Yemeni militant Jamal al-Badawi - were sentenced to death.
Prosecutors said defendants Fahd al-Qasaa and Maamoun al-Msoua, who were sentenced to 10 and eight years respectively, should be executed because their collaboration in planning the attack has been proven. The prosecution added the previous trial was erroneous in not sentencing them to death, since Yemeni law stipulates any crime that results in a death is punishable by death.
