Yemen court sentences 12 to death for attacks [Archives:2004/796/Local News]

Reuters
SANAA, Dec 1 (Reuters) – A court in Yemen sentenced 12 Yemenis to death on Wednesday for attacks on security forces in which a local official and a soldier were killed.
The anti-terrorism court, in an open session attended by journalists, also handed jail sentences of up to 12 years to 17 accomplices, 15 of whom were tried in absentia.
The sentences can be appealed.
The accused were also convicted of acts of sabotage and attacking private homes.
Yemen, an impoverished country at the tip of the Arabian Peninsula, has been plagued by lawlessness and faced attacks by Islamic militants and disgruntled tribesmen.
In September, Yemen sentenced two al Qaeda militants to death for the 2000 bombing of the U.S. destroyer Cole. A month earlier, five al Qaeda supporters were jailed for the 2002 bombing of a French supertanker and another militant was sentenced to death for planning to kill the U.S. ambassador.
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