the appeals court in Sanaa, Yemen, upheld the death sentence against a Yemeni

the appeals court in Sanaa, Yemen,  upheld the death sentence against a Yemeni and sentenced to death another who had been jailed over the 2002 bombing of the French oil tanker Limburg and other attacks. Huzam Saleh Mejalli death sentence of August 2004 was confirmed, while Fawaz al-Rabei, who had been given a 10-year jail term, was condemned to death. Both were also convicted of killing a policeman. They were among a group of 15 Yemenis sentenced in August 2004 for the Limburg bombing and a series of other attacks. One Bulgarian crew member was killed and 12 other crew wounded when an explosives-laden boat rammed the Limburg as it prepared to enter Ash-Shir port off Yemen's south-eastern coast in October 2002.
The court, which convened amid tight security measures, increased jail terms from 10 to 15 years against two convicts, Omar Said Jarallah and Fawzi al-Hababi. Jail sentences of 10 years were upheld against four others -- Abu Bakr al-Rabei, Mohammed al-Ammari, Fawzi al-Wajih and Yasser Salem, the only member of the group tried in absentia. The court also upheld five-year jail terms against Ibrahim Howeidi, Aref Mejalli, Mohammad Abdullah al-Delaimi, Abdul Ghani al-Qithan and Kassem al-Rimi. The remaining two -- Khaled al-Julub and Salim al-Delaimi -- had their three-year jail terms upheld.
"Allahu Akbar (God is greatest), Death to America," the defendants shouted after the rulings were announced.
The convicts, all in their twenties, had been accused of forming an armed group to undermine security in Yemen by carrying out attacks including the bombing of the Limburg and planning attacks against former US Ambassador Edmund Hull and several embassies. Other charges included falsifying documents and committing state security crimes.