The six included the main suspect in the case, Abdel Rahim al-Nashiri, who is in U.S. custody and being tried in absentia.

The attack on the U.S. destroyer left 17 sailors dead and was claimed by al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden.

The six were accused of carrying out "the attack against the USS Cole, belonging to the al-Qaeda network and undermining Yemen's interests."

They were also accused of "forming an armed group to perpetrate criminal acts."

Nashiri was arrested in the United Arab Emirates in October 2002 and handed over to Washington.

Nashiri, born in Saudi Arabia of Yemeni descent, is suspected of involvement in the attacks against the U.S. 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 Japan Times Weekly: July 17, 2004
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