San’a, Yemen ? A Saudi suspected of being an associate of Osama bin Laden and a Yemeni militant were sentenced to death by firing squad Wednesday for the bombing of the USS Cole four years ago, the first convictions in the al-Qaida terror attack that killed 17 American sailors.

The judge ordered four other Yemenis jailed for five to 10 years.

With army snipers on nearby rooftops and armored vehicles and soldiers surrounding the courthouse, Judge Najib al-Qaderi handed down guilty verdicts in an often-delayed trial that saw the five defendants in Yemen’s custody refuse to enter pleas, claiming U.S. interference in the case.

The judge ordered Jamal al-Badawi, a 35-year-old Yemeni, and Saudi-born Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, who is in U.S. custody at an undisclosed location, executed for plotting the attack by two suicide bombers who blew up an explosives-laden boat next to the Cole as it refueled in the Yemeni port of Aden on Oct. 12, 2000.

In reading the verdict, the judge pointed to the prosecution’s statement that Badawi and al-Nashiri bought the speedboat the bombers rammed into the Cole.

“This verdict is an American one and unjust,” al-Badawi yelled from behind the bars of a courtroom cell after al-Qaderi sentenced him to death. “There are no human rights in the world, except for the Americans. All the Muslims in the world are being used to serve American interests.”

Al-Nashiri, who is believed to have masterminded the Cole attack and also thought to have directed the 1998 bombings at the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, was the only defendant not present during the trial.

Al-Nashiri is one of a number of senior al-Qaida figures in U.S. custody at undisclosed locations for interrogations since their captures.

Damage is shown to the port side of the USS Cole after a bomb exploded during a refueling operation Oct. 12, 2000, in the port of Aden, Yemen, in this AP file photo. A Yemeni judge sentenced two men to death and four others to prison terms ranging from five to 10 years Wednesday for the attack.

Mohammed al-Badawi, brother of the Yemeni condemned to death, denounced the verdict and told AP his brother and the four other Yemenis convicted Wednesday would appeal their sentences.

The government of Yemen, the ancestral home of bin Laden, cracked down on militant groups and aligned itself with the U.S.-led war on international terrorist groups after the 9-11 attacks.

The United States has since provided equipment to Yemen’s military to beef up port and border controls.