Cablegate: Yemen Appeals Court Approves Death Sentence For

This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

UNCLAS SANAA 002842

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PTER PREL PGOV CASC ASEC YM COUNTER TERRORISM
SUBJECT: YEMEN APPEALS COURT APPROVES DEATH SENTENCE FOR
JIBLA SHOOTER

REF: A. SANAA 2341
B. SANAA 1079

1. (u) On December 1, a three-judge panel affirmed the death
sentence of Abed Abdulrazak al-Kamel, who was convicted in
May 2003 of the December 30, 2002 murders of 3 U.S. citizens
at Jibla hospital (ref b). Lawyers for Kamel said he will
appeal the decision to the Yemen Supreme Court. Court
officials, however, expect that the conviction will be upheld
and passed to President Saleh, who is likely sign off on the
order to carry out the sentence. No specific date has been
set for Kamel's execution.

2. (u) Kamel claimed he coordinated the attack with Ali
al-Jarallah, who was convicted of both the Amcit murders and
the assassination of Yemeni Socialist Party Deputy
Secretary-General Jarallah Omar in a separate trial in Sana'a

SIPDIS
in October 2003 (ref a). Jarallah is also expected to appeal
his conviction and sentence.

3. (sbu) Comment: The appeals court's decision to affirm the
lower court conviction was not a surprise to anyone but the
defendant, who apparently expected to have his sentence
commuted to life in prison. Post has had representatives at
Kamel's trial and appeal proceedings, which have been
relatively transparent and openly reported in the local
media. End comment.

HULL

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