Nankly Will Not Be Executed [Archives:2000/52/Front Page]

The final verdict against a Syrian national who bears a Spanish nationality, Nankly, will be announced after the Lesser Bairam holiday, Yemen’s interior minister recently told news agencies. Nankly is accused of many things, among them attempted murder of an Italian tourist, training armed gangs to carry out acts of sabotage and killings in Yemen, as well as planning to kill the prime minister Dr Abdul Karim Al-Eryani.
Western diplomatic sources affirm that it is not possible to endorse the death sentence which was given to Nankly by Yemeni higher authorities. The death sentence was passed by a court of the first instance and approved by a Court of Appeal. The European Union has, through its diplomatic channels in Yemen, exercised pressure on the government to abandon the death sentence, because Western states do not permit or recognize death sentences in their countries, and consequently they cannot allow the execution of one of their nationals in another country.
It is expected that the Yemeni authorities will yield to the Europeans demands, and will either commute the sentence or hand him over to Spain.
Nankly was arrested in August, 1997 in a hotel in the capital Sana’a near the Presidential Place after opening fire at the Italian tourist.

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