Posted on 10/25/2007 7:39:58 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
SAN'A, Yemen - Yemen has set free one of the al-Qaida masterminds of the USS Cole bombing in 2000 that killed 17 American sailors, a senior security official said Thursday.
Jamal al-Badawi, who is wanted by the FBI, was convicted in 2004 of plotting, preparing and helping carry out the USS Cole bombing and received a death sentence that was commuted to 15 years in prison.
He and 22 others, mostly al-Qaida fighters, escaped from prison in 2004. But al-Badawi was granted his freedom after turning himself in 15 days ago and pledging loyalty to Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
The official said police were told by the government to "stop all previous orders concerning measures adopted against al-Badawi."
Witnesses told The Associated Press that al-Badawi was receiving well-wishers at his home in the al-Buraika district in Aden.
The Interior Ministry said earlier that al-Badawi voluntarily gave himself up to police, but media reports said tribal chiefs mediated his surrender after he renounced terrorism and pledged allegiance to the Yemeni leader.
Al-Badawi had escaped prison once before with nine other suspects of the Cole attack in April 2003, but was rearrested.
Al-Qaida used to have an active presence in Yemen, the ancestral home of Osama bin Laden. The group was blamed for the bombing of the Cole and the attack on a French oil tanker that killed one person two years later.
Also Thursday, a second security official said police have uncovered a terrorist cell composed of four extremists who were recruiting young Yemenis to carry out suicide attacks in Iraq and elsewhere.
The four were allegedly receiving funds from abroad and were recruiting young men in their twenties from mosques and religious seminars during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, said the official, citing their confessions. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
Yemen does not have a law that criminalizes Jihad, or holy war. Detainees remain in prison until they either renounce their commitment to Jihad or are released under pressure from family and human rights groups.
Since the suicide attack in July that killed eight Spanish tourists visiting an ancient Yemeni temple, President Saleh has said in several interviews with local papers that al-Qaida had reached a truce with the government.
A Sidewalk Stain.
Probably not a good idea to hang around this guys house. He may have been safer in prison.
Yes, this P{OS should be freed from life itself, and should be buried in pigskin to keep those pesky virgins away from him! Allahu fubar!
Is it just me, or is it a requirement that any article about the middle east, must be written by a rag head?
You can typically read throught the lines, see who they sympathize with.
What kind of legal mumbo jumbo does Yemen have anyway?? Too bad our country does not have the guts to hunt down these folks. I mean, this only happened 8 years ago or so.
This guy has been on the lam for 3 years, turns himself in 15 days ago, and gets freed.
Time for real justice. Teh blood of 17 of our sailors demands it.
President Saleh has said in several interviews with local papers that al-Qaida had reached a truce with the government.
—
What was it the President said some time back, something about ‘for or against’?
Tha fact of the matter is that this terrorist scum will serve less prison time than the MPs from Abu GrabAss.
It’s sickening and we should have a hit out on this scumbag yesterday. But our government for all of the illusions of its cloak and dagger probably won’t even consider it. They certainly won’t consider it when a Dem is president.
ping.
Nice place for a well placed missile. Anonymous, of course.
I somehow doubt that his insurance policies will be very cheap...
John Paul II of blessed memory got one factual matter very wrong. He said that in the modern world, where life imprisonment without parole is feasible, the death penalty is unnecessary in order to protect society.
This is untrue. Political instability makes life imprisonment a fiction virtually anywhere in the world. This clown's death sentence is commuted; he escapes from prison and is freed to bomb again. In our own country, the Clintoon freed the unrepentant Puerto Rican murderers who bombed Fraunces Tavern in New York.
A motto for jurisprudence in the enlightened modern world: "The Death Penalty—now more than ever!"
I wonder if he’s being used to sniff out the nest...
One of those situations where the Mafia could make itself truly useful. Too bad we don’t have a fully functioning CIA any more. Thanks, Congress.
Yeah thats all it took, just a little promise not to speak bad about your country's president and he'll let you go like a good little boy, now just run along now and play nice now OK?
ping
“What was it the President said some time back, something about ‘for or against’?”
He also said some things will not be as they appear... some victories we will hear about... some we never will.
LLS
Just read this while reading my daily military news. Hadn't heard a whisper about this in the main stream media.
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