Top Al Qaeda convicts escape from Yemen jail

Reuters ^ | 04 Feb 2006

[Thalos]

SANAA, Feb 4 (Reuters) - Thirteen al Qaeda militants convicted in the attacks on the U.S. warship Cole and the French supertanker Limburg in Yemen were among 23 men who broke out of jail in Sanaa, a state-run Web site said on Saturday.

The September 26 site (www.26sep.net) quoted unnamed sources saying the 13 convicts included top militants Jamal Badawi and Fawaz al-Rabe'ie, who managed to flee the central prison by digging a 70-metre-long tunnel.

Rabe'ie -- the leader of the group convicted of bombing the Limburg in 2002 -- was facing the death sentence, while Badawi was serving 15 years in jail for the bombing of the Cole in 2000 after his sentence was commuted from the death penalty.

Badawi had escaped from prison in Aden in 2003 but was later arrested and sent back to prison, the Web site said.

Yemen, the ancestral home of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, has cracked down on al Qaeda-linked militants following attacks at home.

[Kenny Bunk]

The men broke out of a window around 5:00 am (0200 GMT) and the jailers realized about an hour later that they were gone, said the officials, who requested anonymity.

Dawn prayer, and required pre-prayer ablutions meant the guards' attention was elsewhere, with nether apertures pointed skywards, instead of eye-holes! Doubtless, the escapees fled to the SouthEast, while all attention was being directed NorthWest toward Mecca.

Any other explanation might well be considered an anti-Yemeni, anti-Muslim statement. The police agencies of Islamic Republic of Yemen are a proud and fearless bunch ... just not during the five-times-a-day required prayers. There is also a theological consideration: A Muslim will not interfere with a fellow-Muslim's idea of Jihad.

[RightWhale]

Sounded like some more escaped since last time. But no, it's not so bad, just an old thread.