Yemen orders US-born cleric found 'dead or alive'

A Yemeni judge ordered police Saturday to find a radical U.S.-born cleric "dead or alive" after the al-Qaida-linked preacher failed to appear at his trial for his role in the killing of foreigners.

U.S.-born Awlaki and Othman al- Awlaki, a relative, were both charged in absentia by a Sanaa court with "incitement to kill foreigners and members of security services."

Judge Mohsen Alwan ordered the representative of the public prosecutor to inform the concerned authorities "to forcibly arrest ... Anwar al-Awlaki and ... Othman al- Awlaki."

Yemen, under pressure to crack down on militants after a foiled plot involving air freight parcels bound for Chicago, began on Tuesday the trial of Awlaki, who is thought to be hiding in southern Yemen.

Under Yemeni law, people are given some time to appear for trial before an order is issued that they be captured by force.

The charges arose during the trial of Yemeni Hisham Mohammed Assem, who was in court to face charges of killing French energy contractor Jacques Spagnolo near Sanaa last month.

Prosecutors told the court, which specializes in terrorism cases, that Awlaki had corresponded with Assem for months, encouraging him to kill foreigners.

All three men are accused of "forming an armed gang to carry out criminal acts and to target foreigners and security forces on behalf of al-Qaeda."

Assem, who denied the charges, said he was tortured and asked for a lawyer. The trial was adjourned until Tuesday.

Attack on pipeline

Hours after the hearing, suspected al-Qaeda militants attacked an oil pipeline run by the Korea National Oil Corp in the southeastern Shabwa province controlled by Awlaki’s tribe.

The attack came just days after intercepted parcel bombs destined for Chicago synagogues were traced to Yemen, placing it in the spotlight.

The parcels containing the explosive PETN hidden in ink toner cartridges were found to have been freighted from Sanaa on commercial airlines.

Washington believes the parcel bombs, uncovered on Thursday in Britain and Dubai en route to the United States, were the work of Saudi militant Ibrahim Hassan al-Asiri, a suspected al-Qaeda bombmaker.

Awlaki has not immediately been linked to the parcel bombs, but U.S. officials have long accused him of instigating "terrorism" from Yemen, where he is believed to be hiding in a remote area of Shabwa.

In a May video posted on the Internet, Awlaki urged all Muslims serving in the U.S. Army to follow the example of Major Nidal Hasan, an army psychiatrist accused of killing 13 comrades at Fort Hood base in Texas last November.

"What Nidal Hasan did was heroic... and I call on all Muslims serving in the U.S. army to follow his path," Awlaki said in a video posted on jihadist websites, the US monitoring group SITE reported.

In the video, posted by al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), he also defended Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the Nigerian student accused of the botched Christmas Day attack and said Sanaa is collaborating with Washington to attack Yemenis.

U.S. Homeland Security and Counterterrorism Adviser John Brennan earlier this year accused Awlaki of instigating "terrorism."

"Mr. Awlaki is a problem. He's clearly a part of al-Qaeda in (the) Arabian Peninsula. He's not just a cleric. He is in fact trying to instigate terrorism," he told CNN.

In April, a U.S. official said the Obama administration had authorized the targeted killing of Awlaki, after American intelligence agencies concluded the cleric was directly involved in anti-U.S. plots.

In July, Washington placed Awlaki on its list of terrorism supporters, freezing his financial assets and banning any transactions with him.