U.S. officials visit USS Cole bomber

U.S. Embassy officials in Yemen visited a Yemeni man convicted in the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole in his prison cell today, three days after he was seen greeting relatives in his house.

American and Yemeni officials confirmed the visit but declined to discuss details about its length or substance. It was not clear whether it satisfied U.S. concerns about the status of the man, Jamal Badawi, who escaped from prison along with 22 other convicts last year and turned himself in on Oct. 16.

“Jamal Al-Badawi is in our custody and remains detained undergoing further investigations concerning his escape from prison last year,” Yemen’s Interior Ministry said.

“Jamal is fully cooperating, and the Yemeni government is optimistic about receiving crucial information about other al Qaeda operatives in Yemen and abroad.”

Relatives of Badawi’s told reporters in Yemen late last week that his 15-year sentence — already reduced from his initial death sentence — had been commuted, and they had visited him in his house in the southern port city of Aden, where the attack on the Navy ship took place seven years ago.

The Interior Ministry did not offer an explanation for the relatives’ account, but sources with knowledge of the situation said he had been allowed to visit his family because of his cooperation with the government’s investigation of al Qaeda.

The sources did not say how long Badawi was out of prison.

The United States decided late last week to hold up a $20 million grant for Yemen that was to be signed Wednesday. Officials said yesterday that a review of that grant will continue amid confusing reports about Badawi’s status.

“This was someone who was implicated in the Cole bombing and someone who can’t be running free,” spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters. “He needs to be in jail.”

The Millenium Challenge Corp. (MCC), a U.S. government entity helping the development of poor countries, said the grant was meant to be used to “fight corruption and improve performance on MCC’s indicators that measure the rule of law, political rights and fiscal policy.”

“Originally scheduled to be signed Oct. 31, MCC’s CEO, John Danilovich, has decided to postpone awarding assistance to Yemen and are currently undertaking a review to determine the country’s future status with MCC,” the corporation said.