British prisoners in Yemen

A Yemeni court on Monday sentenced seven British citizens to prison terms ranging between three and seven years on charges of planning for terrorist acts in Yemen.

AFP said that judge Jamal Muhammad Omar sentence three other detainees who had already spent 7 months in prison to time served. The convicted persons were arrested in December, 1998.

Britain on Monday called on the Yemeni government to treat the eight British Islamists who were sentenced by the Yemeni court in a good way.

In a statement, the British Foreign Ministry said the British government has closely followed the trial of those convicted persons and expected the trial procedures to be fair.

The statement indicated claims saying that the detainees were tortured before their trial and asked for explanations in this regard.