Trial of terrorist suspects to kick off this weekPolice Hunt for Three al-Qaeda Suspects [Archives:2004/732/Front Page]

Mohammed Al-Qadhi
Yemeni police are hunting for three al-Qaeda members suspected of having links to the attack on the USS Cole and French oil tanker Limburg, a security official said.
The source said that security men are hunting for three al-Qaeda suspects in Abyan governorate, south Yemen. They are: Mohammed al-Ahdal, Yasser al-Mansoob and Ali Salem al-Madari. The first two are among the USS Cole bombing suspects, who escaped from the jail of the intelligence in April 2003. They are the last two in the group as the security authorities announced the arrest of some of them during its operation in Lawdar, Abyan last month including the mastermind of the attack, Jamal al-Badwi. Al-Madari has been reported to have been involved in the terrorist attack against Limburg near Mukala port in 2002. The other three suspects of the Cole attack surrendered to police last week. Among them is Saleh Man'e al-Najar.
Yemeni authorities announced on Thursday that the tribunal of some terrorist suspects would begin this week. The 26 September Weekly issued by the Ministry of Defense quoted a security official saying that the trial of the terrorist suspects on charges of being involved in the Cole and Limburg terrorist attacks and other terrorist operations Yemen went through during the last few years. The authorities had already said that the trial will include six suspects of the Cole and five of the Limburg attacks. The trial hearings will be conducted at the Specialized Penal Court in Sana'a. The suspects will be divided into groups and each group will have separate trial session. President Ali Abdullah Saleh issued last week a verdict meant to add a new article to the Penal Court Law of 1999, making one of the court's tasks to tackle serious crimes that have targeted state's security and other serious crimes that have devastating social and economic impacts.
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