CAIRO — Yemen has acquitted 19 Al Qaida defendants accused of
plotting to kill U.S. and Western diplomats and military personnel.
A Yemeni judge has dismissed charges that the Al Qaida agents were
ordered by Iraq network chief Abu Mussib Al Zarqawi to blow up a hotel in
Aden frequented by Americans. The judge also dismissed confessions by some
of the
suspects that they were recruited to fight the U.S.-led military coalition
in Iraq.
"This does not violate [Yemeni] law," Judge Ahmed Al Baadani said.
"Islamic law permits holy war against occupiers."
The defendants consisted of 14 Yemenis and five Saudis — arrested
in 2005 — said to have organized a cell to kill Americans and
Westerners in Yemen. During the trial, a defendant testified that he
returned to Yemen to Iraq to fight the American presence in his native land.
In his verdict on July 8, Al Baadani said the prosecution failed to
prove its case. He determined that there was inadequate evidence that the
"defendants were plotting attacks against foreigners or planning to
assassinate Americans in Yemen."
Analysts said the Yemeni trial was heavily influenced if not directed by
President Ali Abdullah Saleh. They said Al Saleh, with longtime ties to Al
Qaida-aligned groups, plans to recruit Islamist support for his reelection
effort in 2007.
U.S. diplomats monitored the trial for an indication of Yemen's
commitment to the war against Al Qaida. The U.S. Navy ended port calls to
Aden after the Al Qaida suicide strike on the USS Cole in 2000.>
