Sanaa, Yemen - A man convicted of plotting the murders of three American missionaries, including an Alabama woman, in December 2002 has been executed by firing squad in Yemen.
Al-Jarallah was blindfolded and shot Sunday at the central prison in Yemen's capital. The gunman also was sentenced to death, but no date has been set for his execution. Abed Abdul Razak Kamel, Al-Jarallah's co-conspirator and alleged gunman, testified at his trial that he "acted out of religious duty...and in revenge for those who converted Muslims from their religion and made them unbelievers."
Ali al-Jarallah had been found guilty of planning the attack, in which Abed Abdul Razak Kamel allegedly walked through a security checkpoint at the Southern Baptist hospital in southern Yemen with a hidden weapon and opened fire at a staff meeting.
The pair may have been been linked to al-Qauida. Police allegedly found audiotapes of Osama bin Laden at Kamel's home.
The shooting killed 60-year-old hospital director William Koehn of Kansas, 53-year-old purchasing agent Kathleen Gariety of Wisconsin and 57-year-old Doctor Martha Myers of Montgomery.
Myers was a medical missionary in Yemen when she was shot and killed in the Jibla Baptist Hospital where she was serving the residents of the impoverished area. Ath the time of her death her father said, "She lived and died serving the Yemeni people."
Ira Myers said his daughter died doing what God wanted her to do, and where God wanted her to do it. Martha Myers was buried in Yemen, according to her wishes. "Our general attitude was that over here it would be another grave. There it would be a testimony," said the slain missionary's father in 2003.
The missionary graduated from the University of Alabama- Birmingham Medical School and served in Yemen for 24 years.