USS Cole appeals trial opens in Yemen

The appeals trial of six men convicted in the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole opened in the Yemeni capital San’a today with prosecutors demanding the execution of two defendants who escaped the death penalty.

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.

Al-Badawi, interrupting proceedings from behind bars in the courtroom dock, shouted to Judge Saeed al-Qattaa that the proceedings were a sham. “I know the verdict is ready in your pocket,” al-Badawi shouted.

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 that the previous trial was erroneous in not sentencing them to death since Yemeni law stipulates that any crime that results in a death is punishable by death.

Al-Nashiri, who is believed to have masterminded the Cole attack and also thought to have directed the 1998 bombings at the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, was the only defendant not present during the trial. He is in US custody at an undisclosed location.

Al-Badawi said he would not recognise the court and the four other defendants asked the court to contact their lawyers to be present in future hearings.

Two suicide bombers rammed an explosives-laden boat into the American destroyer as it refuelled in the southern Yemeni port city of Aden on October 12, 2000, killing 17 American sailors and injuring 37 others.

Yemen had long tolerated Muslim extremists. But after the September 11, 2001, attacks, its government cracked down on militant groups and aligned itself with the US-led war on terror.

The trial was adjourned until December 15.