Yemen Convicts Al Qaeda Agent in Frenchman's Death

SANAA, Yemen – A Yemeni security court has sentenced a suspected Al Qaeda agent to death for the killing of a French oil worker last year.

Hisham Assem was convicted of killing the Frenchman in an Oct. 6 attack on an oil firm compound.

The court on Monday also convicted the radical U.S.-born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki in absentia of plotting to kill the Frenchman and sentenced him to 10 years in prison.

It's the first formal legal action by Yemen against al-Awlaki. Washington has pressured Sanaa to crack down on al-Awlaki, whose sermons advocating holy war against America have influenced militants involved in several attacks or attempted attacks on U.S. soil.

A third defendant, al-Awlaki's cousin Othman, was sentenced in absentia to eight years in prison.

Al-Awlaki is believed to be hiding in Yemen.