SANAA, Yemen –September 26’s website, run by the Yemeni Defense Ministry, claimed that an Interior Ministry source said that Jamal al-Badawi is still detained and not freed, as security officials stated earlier. The unnamed source said that al-Badawi is a detainee of the Interior Ministry and is under investigation by the concerned authorities. Yemen’s official news agency, SABA, printed a short statement that a security source confirmed that al-Badawi is still is custody. The Interior Ministry source stated that al-Badawi was not completely free, but did not clarify whether he was in prison or under house arrest. According to the Yemen Observer, more than one security official at Aden Central Prison confirmed that al-Badawi was in prison. A source stated that he “will remain in prison and under close scrutiny.”
On October 25, security officials claimed that al-Badawi was released to house arrest after pledging allegiance to Yemen’s president, Ali Abdullah Saleh and promised not to participate in terrorism. Members of al-Badawi’s family told Reuters that his sentence was commuted to house arrest and that they visited him at his home. Also, witnesses told the Associated Press that al-Badawi received family and friends at his home in Aden.
Al-Badawi was convicted and sentenced to death for his role in planning and carrying out the 2000 attack on USS Cole. The sentenced was later commuted to 15 years in prison. Two weeks ago, he turned himself in after escaping from prison in 2006.
For more information, please see:
Almotamar – Al-Qaeda militant al-Badawi in custody and under interrogation – 28 October 2007
International Herald Tribune – Mastermind of USS Cole attacks still in detention, 2 Yemeni government web sites say – 28 October 2007
NewsYemen – Yemen denies al-Badawi release – 28 October 2007
Reuters – Yemen says bomber of U.S. destroyer Cole still detained – 28 October 2007
SABA – Al-Badawi is in custody: official source – 28 October 2007
Yemen Observer – Jamal al-Badawi is in jail – 28 October 2007
