Senior al Qaeda figure Jaber al-Banna, who has a five million dollar US bounty on his head, walked free from an appeal hearing in Yemen on Sunday after being granted bail on his own recognisance.
Banna, who has joint Yemeni-US citizenship and was handed a 10 year jail term in absentia last year, is one of 36 convicted militants who are appealing prison sentences of between two and 15 years.
He surrendered to Yemeni authorities in December after negotiations lasting several months. There has still been no word of what deal, if any, was struck.
Banna made his first court appearance at the opening of the appeal on February 23 when he was allowed to walk free without any bail conditions at all. At Sunday's hearing, Banna urged the court to overturn his "unjust" sentence and accused the Yemeni government of colluding with the United States to imprison him.