Revolving Door Justice For Al Qaeda In Yemen

It's the old in-and-out in Yemen, and the US gets screwed.

A convicted al Qaeda terrorist who was involved in the USS Cole attack, surrendered to authorities, and was promptly released back to his home on a pledge not to engage in terrorist activities or deal with al Qaeda.

He was previously convicted and sentenced to life in prison, and that sentence was reduced to 15 years.

Fugitive Al-Qaeda suspect Jamal al-Badawi, who was convicted for the bombing of the USS Cole in Yemen that killed 17 American sailors, has surrendered to authorities, an official said Tuesday.

Witnesses said Badawi -- who featured on a US list of most-wanted terrorists with a five-million-dollar bounty on his head -- had been allowed to return to his home in the southern port city of Aden.

Badawi, one of 23 suspected Al-Qaeda militants who escaped from a prison in the Yemeni capital in February 2006, "gave himself up to security agencies," an interior ministry official said in a statement.

Two escapees remain at large. The others have either given themselves up or were arrested or killed by security forces.

He was sentenced to death in September 2004 for the 2000 bombing of the US Navy destroyer Cole off Aden, which was claimed by Al-Qaeda, but an appeals court later commuted the sentence to 15 years in jail.

A witness in Aden told AFP that Badawi had returned to his home two days ago amid reports in the neighbourhood that authorities had allowed him to go home in return for a pledge not to engage in any violent or Al-Qaeda-related activity.

The US still has a bounty on his head for his terrorist attack on the Cole, and yet he was released. Nice. What a lovely miscarriage of justice.

UPDATE:
Welcome LGFers! Thanks to Charles for the link!

UPDATE:
The Jawa Report has more on the revolving door justice system in Yemen, and notes the following about Badawi:

Jamal al-Badawi, convicted Cole and LImburgh conspirator. [E]scaped jail once in 2003 and again in 2006. Perhaps the most dangerous of the February 2006 escapees, al-Badawi hasn't been heard from since, although shortly after the escape President Saleh said he was in contact by telephone with all the escapees.

For all we know, Badawi has been at his home the entire time since his escape, and no one bothered to track him down. Now, Yemeni officials are simply taking him at his word that he wont engage in further terrorism or contact with al Qaeda.

Here's more on the Badawi's escape from prison with 22 other convicted terrorists in 2006. Badawi was one of two men sentenced to die for their involvement in the USS Cole attacks, and both of those sentences were reduced by the Yemeni courts to 15 years. Badawi and al-Nashiri bought the speedboat the bombers rammed into the Cole.