Yemen court sentences al-Awlaki to prison, French citizen’s killer to death

The specialized primary court on Monday sentenced the French killer to death and Anwar al-Awlaki, the U.S.-born cleric, along with his cousin to 10 and 8 years respectively.

The prosecution accused al-Awlaki of coordinating with the French killer, Hashim M. Asem, and al-Awlaki’s cousin, Othman, to form an armed gang that targets foreigners living in Yemen in addition to targeting security personnel.

Al-Awlaki and his cousin Othman are being judged in absentia while Asem appeared in the court, denying charges against him and his lawyers submitted an appeal for the death ruling.

Asem killed on the sixth of October last year a French citizen working in the Austrian "OMV"  company for petroleum and gas

Asem, 19, is from Taiz province. He killed the French citizen four months after he joined a security company based in Sana’a.

The U.S. administration has authorized killing of Al-Awlaki by Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) for having links with al-Qaeda global network and its Yemen-based group, known as al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).

Al-Awlaki is believed to have inspired  Maj. Nedal Hasan who killed 13 U.S. soldiers in November 5, 2009  at Fort Hood army base in Texas, the United States.

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