SANAA (AFP) - A Yemeni court sentenced to death two Al-Qaeda militants for the October 2000 bombing of the US Navy destroyer Cole which claimed the lives of 17 US sailors.
Another four defendants were given jail sentences ranging from five to 10 years.
Chief suspect Abdel Rahim al-Nashiri, who is currently in US custody and was sentenced in absentia, and Jamal Mohammed al-Bedawi, 30, were both given the death penalty over the October 12, 2000 attack.
The pair were found guilty of "forming an armed group, taking part in the finalising, preparation and execution of the attack on the USS Cole and of the killings," said judge Najib Qadiri.
The sailors were killed when an explosives-laden rubber dingy rammed the guided missile destroyer while it was in the southern port of Aden, blasting a hole in one of the most technologically advanced vessels in the US Navy.
The 8,300 ton ship, which had pulled into Aden to refuel, was heading to the Gulf to join the US-led maritime interception operations in support of UN sanctions that were then in force against Iraq.
The attack was claimed by Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden.
Born in Saudi Arabia of Yemeni descent, Nashiri was described at the time as Al-Qaeda's chief for naval operations and its operations chief in the Gulf. He was arrested in the United Arab Emirates in October 2002 and handed over to Washington.
He is also suspected of involvement in attacks against the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in August 1998 that killed 224 people, and in the October 2002 attack on the French supertanker Limburg off south Yemen in which one Bulgarian crew member was killed and 12 others were wounded.
The prosecution had argued during the trial, which opened in June, that 38-year-old Nashiri was "the main bankroller of the attack" and a "fugitive from justice" and had asked for the maximum penalties for all six.
The five Yemeni defendants in court, all with long beards and dressed in blue, with the exception of Bedawi, remained calm when the verdict was announced.
"It's a judgement of the United States... decided in advance by the United States which pretends to defend human rights while violating these rights in Abu Ghraib prison," said Bedawi.
He was referring to the scandal that emerged when pictures were published detailing the abuse and humiliation of Iraqi detainees at the hands of US soldiers in the notorious prison.
Bedawi charged that those who judged him were "obeying the orders of the Jews and crusaders and not the faith of Islam."
A representative of the US Justice Department at the hearing refused to comment on the verdict.
Of the other defendants, Fahad al-Qasaa, alias Abu Hadhifa, 30, was sentenced to 10 years in prison for "taking part in an armed group" and "filming the attack".
Maamun Ahmed Saeed Ansua, also 30, was given an eight-year sentence for "falsifying official documents handed to the suicide bombers," Qadiri said.
Ali Mohammed al-Marqab, 30, and Murad Saroori, 27, each received five years for "forging identity cards and passports for members of the armed group," the judge added.
"The verdict is unjust and we will appeal," Bedawi's father Mohammed told AFP. He called on Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh to intervene to commute his son's death sentence in his capacity as the highest judicial authority.
Qasaa's brother, Khalid, said he too would appeal his brother's 10-year sentence.
"The court based its judgement on proof that was not clear, extracted from the accused during their detention," he said. "The verdict was pre-established and the jugement political."
Defence lawyers for the five had pleaded their clients' innocence and said the trial was not valid in the absence of the main suspect.
The bombers who rammed their cargo into the 170-metre (505-feet) long USS Cole were identified as Ibrahim al-Thur, alias Al-Nibras, and Hassan al-Khamiri.