SAN`A, Yemen - A court Wednesday convicted 34 men of plotting attacks across Yemen, including one aimed at the US Embassy, and it sentenced the leader of the Shiite rebel group to death.

The defendants were accused of being followers of radical Shiite cleric Hussein Badr Eddin al-Hawthi, who launched an uprising in early 2004. He was killed in September of that year, but his followers have continued their minority rebellion.

The group's leader, Ibrahim Mohammed Sharafeldeen, was convicted and sentenced to death for forming a terror cell aimed at "disturbing security and weakening the security forces."

The group was charged with plotting to carry out various attacks in the country, including ones targeting the US Embassy and the American ambassador.

Chief judge Najeeb Qaderi of Yemen's state security court sentenced 25 others in the case to prison sentences ranging between three to 10 years. Eight other defendants were convicted but released because of time served.

Three others in the case were found not guilty for lack of evidence.

After the sentences were pronounced, the defendants began kissing each other on the cheeks and shouting "Allahu akbar," or "God is great," and anti-US slogans.

"We are today the same as we were more than a year ago, reject this trial and will not accept the tribunal's legitimacy, and affirm our obligation to our scholar al-Hawthi," said Abad Bin Ali al-Hayal, one of those who was sentenced to time served.

The defendants were captured in early 2005 in one of the capital's suburbs and security forces found weapons, ammunition and rockets with their possessions, along with recordings of al-Hawthi.

The court hearing was held under strict security measures. Streets near the court building were blocked and several armored vehicles and military jeeps armed with machine guns surrounded the building.

Al-Hawthi's followers alleged that the government persecuted him for his outspokenness against corruption and Yemen's pro-American policies. The government said al-Hawthi's death would end the clashes but fighting has continued.