SAN`A, Yemen — A Yemeni-American, one of the FBI's 26 "most wanted" for terrorism, appeared at a session of his trial in a Yemeni court Saturday with bodyguards and then walked free, apparently not subject to any form of incarceration, eyewitnesses said.
The 41-year-old Jaber Elbaneh attended a session of the trial for him and 22 other Al Qaeda members charged for a series attacks on oil facilities, an eyewitness said speaking on condition of anonymity because of security concerns.
Footage of the suspect entering and leaving the court unimpeded also appeared on the Dubai-based pan-Arab satellite channel, al-Arabiya.
"He entered the courtroom surrounded by four bodyguards, introduced himself to the judge then he left," the eyewitness said about Elbaneh who is believed to be living with his family in the province of al-Dalai, some 220 kilometers south of San'a, despite being on trial.
According to the FBI Web site, the State Department is offering up to US$5 million for information leading to his arrest.
Elbaneh was convicted and sentenced to 10 years imprisonment in November in a lower court on charges of masterminding two attacks in the eastern Marid and Hadramawt provinces in Sept. 2006.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,332058,00.html