Yemen Court Finds Jihad Permissible

Yesterday's Wall Street Journal [subscription required] reported on a decision handed down last month by Yemeni Judge Mohammed al-Baadani who sits on the country's special terrorism court. He ruled that Yemeni law was not violated when 19 defendants traveled to Iraq to kill American soldiers and fight with al Queda. He said that the country's law, which includes elements of Sharia, was not violated because Islamic law permits jihad against occupiers of Muslim lands. The law only prohibits attacking U.S. or Western targets outside of occupied land. The judge has been surprised by the strong criticism of his decision by the U.S. embassy and by the judge's own family members who live in the United States. The judge says that a contrary ruling would have made martyrs of the defendants. Indeed it appears that prosecutors had not charged the defendants for their activity in Iraq, but only with plotting attacks against a Western hotel in Aden and against other Western targets-- and the prosecution showed no evidence to support these charges.