A Yemeni court set the date of the verdict on Hammoud...

A Yemeni court set the date of the verdict on Hammoud Murshid Hassan Ahmad's appeal against a death sentence for murder for May 26 after a short court session on April 19. During this session testimony in support of the murder charge against the defendant was read, but since again the witnesses were not present, the verdict was postponed. Hammoud Murshid Hassan Ahmad, married, father of six children and an army captain for the former People's Democratic Republic of Yemen was arrested without a warrant on July 17, 1994. The arrest was carried out under the orders of Lt. Col. Sa'id Abdo Farhan of the Security Services. Hammoud was accused of the premeditated murder of this man's brother, committed in 1982, during a civil war. However, he was not charged with this murder, but with the death of the substitute of the first alleged victim, which had taken place at the same time.He was sentenced to death in a trial which, according to Amnesty International, was not up to international standards. Limitations were imposed on the he defence lawyer on cross-examining witnesses, testimonyin favour of the accused was rejected, and evidence that he was not in the country at the time of the crime was not examined by the court. The Court of Appeal confirmed the verdict on May 11, 1998. However, the case was then sent to the division of Criminal Investigation and further appealed by the defence.