SANAA, Yemen, July 14 (UPI) -- Twelve security agents at Sanaa's central prison were sentenced to terms behind bars for negligence that facilitated the escape of al-Qaida prisoners.
The defense ministry said on its Web site Friday that a special military court also ordered the suspension from work of the intelligence members who were in charge of security at the prison from which 23 al-Qaida convicts escaped last February.
The ministry did not reveal where and when the trial of the security members took place but said all defendants were found guilty of the crime of facilitating the escape of the prisoners, including convicts in the bombings of USS Cole and French tanker Limburg.
Sentences varied between three years and eight months prison terms in addition to immediate suspension from work. But the court upheld the defendants' right to retirement pensions.
The ministry said the trial took place according to the military criminal law and the by-laws of the political security agency, or intelligence, and that the accused were defended by private lawyers.
Among the 23 al-Qaida escapees, 13 were convicted in the October 2000 bombing of the USS Cole, including the attack mastermind Jamal Badawi.
Official sources said the authorities recaptured nine of the fugitives, including six who were convicted in the bombing of the Limburg. But none of the convicts in the USS Cole attack have been seized.
