Yemeni appealsdeath sentence for American murders [Archives:2003/649/Front Page]

SANAA, July 7 (Reuters) – A court of appeals began on Monday hearing an appeal by a Yemeni man sentenced to death for murdering an American missionary doctor and two of her colleagues in the Arab state last year.
A court convicted Abed Abdel Razzak Kamel in May of shooting dead the three Christian missionaries at a Baptist mission hospital in December, 2002. Kamel said he did it to get closer to God and take revenge on Christians and Americans.
The killings came at a time of strong anti-American sentiment in Yemen over U.S. support for Israel, the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan and the buildup to the war in Iraq.
Prosecutors said Kamel was part of a militant cell, but he was not sentenced on such charges.
Kamel's lawyers, who say the death sentence was politically motivated, asked for leniency on Monday, saying Kamel should have been tried by an Islamic court and not a civil court. The next hearing was set for 14 July.
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