SANA'A- - A Yemeni appeal court on Saturday endorsed the sentence of three years and one month in jail for the suspected second-in-command of al-Qaeda in Yemen, Mohammad Hamdi al-Ahdal.

In a brief session, presiding judge Saeed al-Qattaa read out the one-line verdict stipulating that "the court rejected the prosecution's appeal against the initial ruling."

The initial verdict was announced by a state security court on May 3.

As the judge pronounced the verdict, al-Ahdal, 35, shouted "Praise God."

Al-Ahdal, who is also known as Abu-Asem al-Macci, was charged with financing attacks against Western targets in Yemen, but the initial verdict said prosecutors had failed to link him to certain attacks in the country.

He was convicted of raising funds for Mujahedeen (holy warriors) fighting in Afghanistan and Chechnya.

Prosecutors told the court that al-Ahdal has received up to 50,000 dollars from al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden to finance the terror network's operations in Yemen and to give aid to families of detained members of the group.

They said he had received around 150,000 dollars from a fellow al- Qaeda member identified as Saudi national Abu-Omar al-Usaimi.

During the trial, al-Ahdal rejected the charge of financing attacks in Yemen. But he admitted to providing financial aid to families of Islamic militants held in custody by US or Yemeni authorities.

"Yes, I have been giving financial aid to families of Mujahedeen (holy warriors), and I'm happy for doing that," al-Ahdal said at an April 18 hearing.

Yemeni authorities believe that al-Ahdal, who was arrested in 2003, was the deputy of Ali Qaed Sinan al-Harthi, alias Abu Ali al- Harthi, who was killed in a November 2002 US missile attack on his car in eastern Yemen. Harthi has been described by Yemeni officials as the top al-Qaeda local leader in Yemen.

Officials have said that al-Ahdal was believed to be the financier of the October 12, 2000 suicide attack on the US Navy destroyer USS Cole in Yemen's southern harbour of Aden, which killed 17 American sailors. This charge, however, was not mentioned in the charge sheet read out in the courtroom when the trial began on February 13.

© 2006 DPA