YEMEN: MOSQUE ATTACKER EXECUTED BY FIRING SQUAD

March 3, 2009: a man convicted of killing ten people in a shooting rampage outside a mosque in north-western Yemen was executed in his home city, a security source said. A police firing squad shot dead Abdullah Saleh al-Kohali, 27, in the central prison of Amran.
He was executed after the verdict sentencing him to death was read out by a judge at the prison's courtyard. Officials said he shot worshippers with a machine gun as they were praying outside the mosque in the Bait al-Aqari village in Amran in May 2008. Victims' relatives attended the execution, but photographers and cameramen were not allowed. Al-Kohali was sentenced to death by a court in Amran in June 2008 after he confessed to the crime. Al-Kohali told the court he intended to avenge his honor by killing a man sexually involved with his sister. He said the main target of his shooting was a fellow clansman identified as Belal Qassim Al-Kohali. “He got my sister pregnant three times,” the defendant told the judges. The ruling was confirmed by an appeal court. (Sources: Monsters & Critics, 04/03/2009; Arab News, 05/03/2009)